Four years ago today, 18-year-old Rashaud Fields crossed the stage at Raines High School, diploma in hand and future seemingly wide open. Hours later, on May 23, 2022, he was shot and killed. As the anniversary returns, the Northside community has marked the date with memorials and rallies, pushing for answers in a case Fields’ family says is still unsolved. They continue to plead with anyone who was at the graduation gathering to finally speak up.
On May 23 the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office posted a brief remembrance on Facebook, noting Fields’ scholarship to Keiser University and again asking the public for help. According to Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, tips can be emailed to [email protected]. First Coast Crime Stoppers lists Fields’ killing among active unsolved homicides and notes tips in cold homicides may be eligible for rewards up to $5,000.
Family and community gather at Raines
In April and again around the anniversary, family members, classmates and city leaders gathered at Raines High School to remember Fields and to keep the pressure on for information. “I’m hurt, I’m disgusted, and I’m just, you know, I am heartbroken,” his mother Janice Fields told News4JAX. Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman stood with the family, urging anyone who knows what happened to come forward and saying the city has to both celebrate students’ achievements and confront the gun violence that shadows them.
What investigators say about the night
Investigators say the shooting happened around 10 p.m. on May 23, 2022, in the 10700 block of E. Pine Estates Road near Leonid Road, where a graduation gathering had drawn dozens of people, according to Action News Jax. Family members told reporters Fields had recently signed a scholarship to Keiser University and was headed to or at a party hours after graduation when he was shot. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has not publicly announced suspects, and the family maintains that someone who was there that night likely knows who was responsible…