JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Friends of the Jacksonville man killed in a motorcycle crash in the Allendale area on Monday night have now identified him only to Action News Jax as 38-year-old Keith Gates.
Michael Lykins, Gates’ close friend and roommate, said he got a call Monday night that Keith hadn’t answered his phone, around the same time he heard about a motorcycle crash at the intersection of Edgewood Avenue and 12th Street.
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He said he rushed to the crash site just in time to find his friend lying dead in the street.
“I got there and I just yelled his name. He was lifeless,” said Lykins, “I was in shock, I was trying to make myself believe that it wasn’t him.”
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office reported on Monday night that a man on a motorcycle had been killed in a crash at around 7:55 PM. JSO said the motorcycle driver was heading north on Edgewood when he ran into an SUV that turned in front of him.
JSO said the two people inside the SUV weren’t severely hurt, but the motorcycle driver, identified as Gates, was killed in the crash.
Lykins said Gates wasn’t just a fellow rider and close friend, but a gifted mechanic who never turned down a call for help.
“It’s just not right, because he’s gone,” Lykins said.
Lykins tells Action News Jax he has lost other friends in motorcycle crashes, but this is the last one he ever hopes to hear about.
“I don’t want no more friends taken from me. I’m tired of meeting new friends and then they’re just gone,” said Lykins.
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JSO said this was the 40th motorcycle crash death in Duval County this year. Action News Jax found that this has been the deadliest year for Duval County motorcycle riders in the last three years. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles reported 36 motorcycle crash deaths in Duval County in 2024, 32 in 2023, and 31 in 2022.
Lykins told Action News Jax he is unsure if he will keep riding for that much longer, now that he’s suffering the loss of another friend.
“I have what I want, but I just don’t have my friend. It’s crazy, man,I still don’t believe it, but I know he’s gone,” said Lykins.
Lykins has scheduled a memorial motorcycle ride-along in Keith’s memory that is set to start on Saturday, November 22nd, at 1:00 p.m. at the parking lot next to Friendship Fountain. He’s also started a fundraiser to help pay for Keith’s funeral services, which can be found here.
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