{"id":98162,"date":"2025-07-28T01:41:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T01:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/98162\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T01:41:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T01:41:13","slug":"jacksonville-woman-recalls-moment-she-learned-that-her-younger-brother-had-been-fatally-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/98162\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville woman recalls moment she learned that her younger brother had been fatally shot"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRADFORD COUNTY, Fla. <\/strong> \u2013 Two days after tragedy struck, Melanie Russo is still struggling to process the loss of her younger brother, Christopher\u2014known as \u201cChris\u201d to his loved ones. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not real,\u201d Russo said, recalling the moment she learned of the shooting that took her younger brother\u2019s life. \u201cMy sister called me. The only words she could get out of her mouth was \u2018been shot Chris.\u2019 I said, \u2018What?\u2019 I couldn\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: <\/b>Gunfire near Bradford County High School leaves man dead, woman arrested<\/a><\/p>\n

According to the Bradford County Sheriff\u2019s Office, the shooting occurred on Friday, just before 6 p.m.<\/a> Authorities received a call from Auntie Lili\u2019s Child Care Center on Washington Street, near Bradford High School, reporting a woman with a gun. <\/p>\n

Soon after, additional calls reported shots fired and a man injured. When deputies arrived, they found Jones had been shot multiple times. He later died at the hospital.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement arrested Mindy Michelle Osteen at the scene in connection with the shooting.<\/p>\n

Russo described her brother as someone who was \u201creally just like a brother to everybody,\u201d beloved by his friends and family. The loss has already deeply affected Jones\u2019 two young sons. <\/p>\n

Russo described her brother as someone who was \u201creally just like a brother to everybody,\u201d beloved by his friends and family. The loss has already deeply affected Jones\u2019 two young sons. (Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe boys are very young. His oldest boy, like I said, he\u2019s about to be three, and he\u2019s not very verbal. He has some medical issues where he\u2019s gotta get a surgery done for tubes in his ears,\u201d Russo explained. \u201cIt is very obvious that they keep looking out the window for Dad to come home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond her grief, Russo expressed frustration, believing her brother\u2019s death could have been prevented. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople wanna stand up and speak for women all the time. Men can be victims too. Men can be victims too, and I saw it with my own two eyes. I saw him live through it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Russo shared that Jones had reached out for help as his relationship with Osteen became increasingly concerning, fearing for his own safety and that of his children. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe just wanted everything for these boys, and he was going to work his butt off and do everything he had to do to get there. And it is devastating that he\u2019s not gonna be here to do that for them now,\u201d Russo said.<\/p>\n

A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family cover funeral expenses and offer financial support to Jones\u2019s two sons. Those who would like to donate can find the link here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRADFORD COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Two days after tragedy struck, Melanie Russo is still struggling to process the loss…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":98163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,64223,3188,723,7310,101,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-98162","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-bradford-county","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-shooting","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114928319487970028","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98162","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=98162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}