After nearly eight years of waiting, authorities say they have a suspect in custody in the killing of 28-year-old Lavert Durden in West St. Augustine. Police arrested Brandon Calloway on Friday in connection with Durden’s fatal shooting near the intersection of Herbert and Christopher streets on November 16, 2018, a case that has haunted both the neighborhood and Durden’s family for years.
Arrest and charges
Calloway has been charged with first-degree murder and transported to the St. Johns County Jail, where he is being held without bond, according to News4JAX. Investigators say Calloway had long been listed as a person of interest in the case and was already serving an eight-year sentence on unrelated charges when authorities moved to formally take him into custody.
Family pushed for answers
Durden’s relatives have spent years publicly demanding justice, saying the lack of an arrest was agonizing and that they wanted to keep his case from fading from public memory. The family organized a protest and set up a memorial near the corner where Durden was killed, and investigators had previously named Calloway and another man as persons of interest, according to Action News Jax.
Neighborhood trauma stretches back years
The Durden family’s loss is part of a larger pattern of violence that has shaken West Augustine. Their grief is intertwined with a string of unsolved shootings in the area, including the 2016 killings of Durden’s cousin, Charles Durden, and Staffon Larry, whose bodies were discovered in a burning SUV. A 2024 memorial walk for the men noted that the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office has kept those cases open and urged anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers, News4JAX reported.
What comes next
With Calloway now facing a first-degree murder charge, the case will move through the St. Johns County court system, where prosecutors will decide whether to seek an indictment and set an arraignment date. Authorities continue to ask anyone with information about the 2018 shooting to contact the sheriff’s office or Crime Stoppers.
