On January 15, 2023, 58-year-old Uneeda Voncile Hardy was one of three people fatally shot at a residence on the 11000 block of Bridges Road in Northwest Jacksonville. Officers responded to reports of gunfire around 12:30 p.m. and found Hardy and her partner, 63-year-old Gregory Joel Merritt, inside a bedroom with fatal gunshot injuries; a family friend, 44-year-old Luther Lewis Williams IV, was discovered in the front yard with multiple gunshot wounds. Investigators recovered numerous 9mm shell casings at the scene.

An 18-year-old grandson of Hardy and Merritt, Ja-Darrius Jashawn Jones, was located shortly after the shootings at a nearby residence attempting to flee and was taken into custody after a brief foot chase. A witness reported Jones arrived at her home armed and wearing blood-stained white sneakers and a fanny pack later identified as belonging to Williams. Family members said an ongoing family dispute had been escalating before the killings; Williams was believed to have been an unintended witness.

Hardy was born July 2, 1964, in Jacksonville and is survived by children, grandchildren, siblings and other relatives. Does anyone have information about Uneeda Hardy, her family, or the events that led up to that day?