On August 9, 2023, Tara Baker, 53, was fatally shot at a railroad crossing in Jacksonville’s San Marco neighborhood. Baker was on her bicycle and had stopped for a passing train around 1:30 a.m. A gray Volkswagen Passat driven by Ty Christopher Head, 22, pulled up behind a white SUV stopped on Hendricks Avenue. Head exited his vehicle and shot Baker, who was standing next to her bicycle, and the SUV’s driver, 28-year-old Paige Pringle.

Pringle was shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene; her SUV continued rolling into the path of the train after she was shot. Baker was shot once and later died at a hospital. Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office investigators, with help from the FBI and ATF, linked bullet casings at the scene to a 9mm handgun that Head used when he took his own life the next day in Nashville, Tennessee. Authorities said Head had no criminal record, struggled with substance abuse, and had been living out of his car.

Baker’s fiancé, Maurice Fisher, described their long-term relationship and upcoming wedding plans and expressed his grief; local businesses, including Fifi’s Fine Resale Apparel, provided surveillance footage to investigators. The motive for the shootings has not been determined. Did anyone in the San Marco area see activity near the train crossing that night or have information about the victims’ movements?