Over 4,000 Florida children hospitalized by gun violence since 2018

Public health officials and researchers are connecting a history of environmental neglect in Jacksonville, Florida, to current rates of child firearm injuries. The findings suggest that decades of segregation and industrial pollution continue to shape local mortality statistics.

Hospital billing data from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration reveals that more than 4,000 children were hospitalized for firearm injuries between 2018 and 2024. This averages to approximately 1.5 children per day across the state. The records, which did not identify patients, included residential ZIP codes, age, and race.

In Jacksonville, at least 375 children under the age of 18 have been hospitalized for gun-related injuries since 2018. At least 150 of these cases occurred in ZIP codes 32206, 32208, and 32209. These three areas contain three of the ten worst ZIP codes for child firearm injury rates in Florida. The area is home to a boarded-up elementary school situated on a 250-acre site known as Brown’s Dump.

The site served as a landfill from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s, receiving toxic ash from municipal incinerators. The Duval County School Board built a school there in the 1950s, and developers constructed homes on the surrounding land. Federal and state authorities declared the soil a potential public health hazard in 1999. The school closed in 2001, and cleanup efforts for lead, arsenic, and other contaminants began eight years later.

Lindsay Emer, lead author of a study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, linked early lead exposure to higher risks of firearm violence in adulthood. Her team analyzed data from more than 89,000 people in Milwaukee who were tested for lead exposure before age six. Emer described the situation as a legacy of segregation and redlining, calling it a major environmental injustice for the African American population.

Jeffrey Goldhagen, a professor emeritus of pediatrics at University of Florida Health Jacksonville, stated that removing lead from the environment is among the most effective ways to impact gun violence in the Black community. He noted that lead exposure can impair cognitive development and impulse control in children. The city has one of the highest lead poisoning rates in Florida, with no known safe amount of lead for humans.

Community leaders argue that the physical presence of a new medical examiner’s office and morgue in the Brentwood neighborhood reinforces these disparities. The facility is located across the street from a public charter school. Anthony Brown, founder of the Red Alliance for Justice, said the city spent more than $60 million on the morgue but has not created a dedicated funding source for redlined neighborhoods. He called for tangible action to address the interconnected issues of racism and violence.

In 2024, the Jacksonville City Council unanimously approved a resolution to redress the effects of redlining. Council member Jimmy Peluso noted that the city’s north side has been ravaged over the years and lacks proper opportunity to stand on its own feet. A spokesperson for Mayor Donna Deegan declined to answer questions about gun violence and racial inequality. The city’s history includes a 2023 settlement with Ameris Bank, which agreed to set up a loan subsidy fund after the Justice Department alleged it redlined minority neighborhoods.