JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A grieving Jacksonville mother is calling for justice after her teenage son, known as a bright light in his community, was shot and killed outside their apartment late last month.
Myesha Johnston said Aug. 27 started like any other. Her son, Princepaul Hodges, had just brought home an orange soda for his younger sister, handed it to her, and went upstairs to his room. Minutes later, gunshots rang out.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, around 8:50 p.m., officers responded to an apartment complex on King Street. When they arrived, officers found Hodges suffering from gunshot wounds.
Hodges was transported to a hospital, where he died.
He was 18 years old.
“I wasn’t thinking anything about my son,” Johnston said. “Then maybe six or seven minutes later, someone was banging on my door. It was a neighbor, saying my son was shot.”
She said she rushed to get to him, but her body wouldn’t cooperate. Living with multiple sclerosis, her legs trembled as she tried to run down the steps.
“My leg was just shaking out of control. I got down the steps as fast as I could, and he was lying at the top of the landing, sideways, with a bullet in his back.”
Princepaul’s death has left a hole in both his family and their small community. The family had moved to Jacksonville from New York and didn’t have many relatives nearby. But Hodges easily formed friendships.
“He was very loving, very caring. He helped people he didn’t even know,” Johnston said. “I still sit in my chair thinking he’s going to come running up the steps.”
Princepaul Hodges was killed in a shooting in late August. (Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)
Neighbors and even strangers have stopped to talk about how kind he was.
“People were saying he was such a sweet kid, such a light, so fun,” she said.
According to his mother, Hodges was working toward getting his driver’s license and dreamed of starting his own lawn care business.
“He wanted to buy a truck and be his own boss,” his mother said. “An entrepreneur at a very young age.”
Instead, she’s now preparing to bury her son. His body was transported back to New York, where most of their extended family lives.
She said she plans to move back there as well — staying in Jacksonville feels impossible.
“I don’t want to stay here,” she said softly. “The last place I saw my son was on those steps, where his body was.”
As she begins the painful process of planning her son’s funeral, she remains in disbelief.
“I wish I could just do the 27th all over again,” she said. “I can’t bring him back.”
Johnston created a GoFundMe fundraiser to help with her son’s funeral expenses.
Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.