{"id":858147,"date":"2026-06-10T19:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T19:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/858147\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T19:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T19:31:13","slug":"every-hour-is-a-waiting-game-mom-of-mandarin-football-player-injured-in-accidental-shooting-shares-emotional-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/858147\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Every hour is a waiting game\u2019: Mom of Mandarin football player injured in accidental shooting shares emotional message"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 The mother of a Mandarin High School student who was seriously injured in an apparent accidental shooting this weekend<\/a> said her family is devastated and she is praying for a miracle as he remains in the ICU fighting for his life.<\/p>\n

Mikah \u201cVegas\u201d Howell, 17, was injured Saturday in what the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office is investigating as an \u201caccidental shooting.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, in a long Facebook post under a News4JAX story<\/a>, his mother, Jessica Mcphee said the incident changed their lives forever and gave an update on her son\u2019s condition. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe bullet cannot be removed, and right now we do not know what the future holds. Every day is uncertain. Every hour is a waiting game. We are taking things one moment at a time, praying for healing, strength, and a miracle,\u201d Mcphee wrote. \u201cOur family is devastated, but we are standing strong beside him as he fights. We are asking our community for prayers, support, and help bringing awareness to the devastating impact of gun violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a Wednesday afternoon Facebook post, Mcphee said Howell had to be placed in a medically induced coma. <\/p>\n

There are still unanswered questions about the incident. <\/p>\n

News4JAX obtained the incident report, but it does not contain details about what happened, and the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office did not hold a media briefing after Howell was found with a gunshot wound to his head. JSO has not released any additional information about the incident, and Mcphee is asking anyone with information to come forward \u201cso our family can get answers and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mcphee said Howell is a student in the Cambridge AICE Program with dreams of attending the University of Central Florida and becoming a Civil Engineer specializing in Urban Planning and Development and is intelligent, driven, and determined. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut what makes Mikah truly special is his heart,\u201d she wrote. \u201cHe has a way of making every person feel important, like they are the only person in the room. He is kind, loving, compassionate, and fearless.\u201d<\/p>\n

She thanked the community for its prayers and the nearly $7,000 that has been donated as of Wednesday<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Howell is one of two teens who were accidentally shot this week. <\/p>\n

Another Jacksonville teen was in critical condition<\/a> after suffering a gunshot wound to her head in an \u201caccidental incident\u201d early Monday morning, JSO said. Investigators said the suspect and the teen know each other and the incident \u201cappears to be an accident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 The mother of a Mandarin High School student who was seriously injured in an apparent…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":858148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,8314,3188,723,7310,8423,37632,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-858147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-america","tag-duval-county","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-jacksonville","tag-jso","tag-mandarin","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116727479655246588","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}