A 17-year-old was gunned down and killed in broad daylight in the parking lot of an Old Bainbridge Road daycare Monday afternoon as he fled his attackers, witnesses say.

A little before 1 p.m. staff at Franklin Academy said they heard as many as 14 gunshots then saw the teen, who'd already been shot, scale the property's 6-foot fence, run to the front of the school and bang on the door for help.

As he kept running through the parking lot, a car from the adjoining Monterey Apartments pulled up and its occupants opened fire.

“He went from the front door to the middle of the parking lot, then a car came in front with guns and started to shoot and continued to shoot him,” said the school's administrator, Margaret Franklin. “It’s just so sad. The next thing we know there is a dead person on the parking lot.”

Because of TPD's interpretation of Marsy’s Law, the name of the victim has not been released by officials. Family members at the scene identified him as 17-year-old Cobi Mathis.

While investigators scoured the area for evidence and interviewed witnesses, dozens of Mathis’ family and friends wailed and mourned as they huddled outside a church across the street. As his body was taken away, they gathered in a circle and prayed.

TPD Spokesman Damon Miller said investigators do not yet know the motive for the shooting and are working to identify suspects.

Five children were inside the daycare when the shooting broke out at about 12:50 p.m. None were injured, but parents were still trickling in to pick up their children as investigators canvassed the area. The incident closed down Old Bainbridge Road for several hours.

Franklin, who ran Franklin Academy on Tuskegee Street on the south side for more than 20 years, purchased the building in May to start a new school. She expressed dismay and sadness about the pervasive violence gripping the city.

“It’s so upsetting to know this kind of thing is happening,” she said. “It’s not just south side, it’s north side, it’s east and west side; it’s happening all over Tallahassee.”

Less than an hour after Mathis was killed in Franklin's parking lot, TPD responded to an unrelated shooting across town on West Pensacola that sent another person to the hospital.

►Interactive Map:Chronicling the 2018 shootings in Tallahassee

"My heart is really heavy because of this kind of activity,” said Gallop Franklin II. The assistant professor of pharmacy at Florida A&M serves as vice president of Franklin Academy and was an applicant for the City Commission's recent reappointment. "It makes me want to take a closer look at what we can do to address safety.”

Into the afternoon, evidence markers plotting Mathis’ final steps dotted the back parking lot of the apartment complex and the wooden walkway leading around the side of the day care.

“We’re still trying to investigate everything and put everything together to see if we have one crime scene, two crime scenes or three,” TPD's Miller said expressing frustration at the open violence. “Please call us. Another senseless act here in Tallahassee. We just want to try to put an end to it. There's no sense for people to keep dying.”

The case has been assigned to TPD’s Violent Crimes Unit. Anyone with information is asked to call TPD at (850) 891-4200 or CrimeStoppers anonymously at (850) 574-TIPS.

Democrat reporter TaMaryn Waters contributed to this report. Contact Karl Etters at ketters@tallahassee.com or @KarlEtters on Twitter