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Tallahassee police work a shooting scene outside of halftime booze
Police work the scene after a shooting Saturday left at least 1 person dead and 8 others injured in front of Half Time Liquors on West Pensacola Street.
Chasity Maynard, Tallahassee Democrat
Tallahassee city commissioners are saddened by a mass shooting that left one dead and eight injured during a weekend of football, homecoming and Halloween festivities.
But they stopped short of supporting the new ordinances, including crowd control measures — which some in the community said were urgently needed in the wake of the recent bloodshed.
Consequences of bleeding:
Several city commissioners expressed skepticism about responding to the shooting with new laws. Many said it will take a community-wide push, not just city action, to make progress.
“You can’t throw an ordinance in one situation,” Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox said. “It takes all of us to stop what’s happening.”
The shooting, which police said involved out-of-town rivals, happened late Saturday after hundreds of people gathered along a stretch of West Pensacola Street. Between 50 and 70 law enforcement officers were on the scene at the time.
Dozens of shots were fired. Demario “Ro” Murray, described as an innocent bystander, was shot and killed in the shooting. Other victims were expected to recover. Three accused have been arrested so far.
The violence was a grim reminder of the city’s years-long struggle to deal with gun violence. It comes weeks after city commissioners approved a five-year, $5 million plan to prevent shootings.
More: ‘Bring in the experts’: How Tallahassee is spending $1 million to stop shootings
Bethel Missionary Baptist Church Pastor R.B. Holmes Jr., in a Monday column on tallahassee.com, called for ordinances to prevent “gatherings like this” from taking place. He called on city commissioners to “immediately enact” a plan to address the problem.
Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell said in an interview Monday that he “absolutely” supports such a measure, but that it comes with a set of legal caveats that could make actual enforcement difficult.
Revell said businesses would have to agree to close their parking lots for police to clear them, which many are reluctant to do. He pointed out that officers alone cannot stop such shootings.
“Obviously, the police presence makes no difference,” he said. “We were there and it still happened. It’s about our community coming together, the pastors, the city officials all, coming together. It might be best to keep these gatherings all together. “
Commissioners are skeptical of new rules governing large gatherings
Commissioners are grappling with efforts to control large, unruly crowds starting in 2020 during pandemic closures and curfews. A new sound ordinance approved in March, which allows police to initiate complaints based on noise, grew out of a July 2020 fatal shooting at a pop-up party outside a gas station on the South Side.
Amid debate over what to do, some commissioners expressed reservations about moving forward with other measures, saying they would infringe on the rights of property owners and people who want to gather.
“I don’t know that we can pass an ordinance that would regulate what private property owners can allow on their property,” Commissioner Curtis Richardson said. “We’ve addressed that issue in the past, and we always need the cooperation of private property owners.”
Richardson said commissioners would be willing to look into such a proposal, “but it’s not going to be a simple silver bullet answer to what we need to address.”
Commissioner Jeremy Matlow said a wholesale ban on large gatherings was not a solution to the “tragic circumstances” in which nine people were shot dead.
“I don’t know if there’s an assembly ordinance solution that’s going to reduce gun violence,” he said. “Thousands of people who have no interest in violence or gunplay attend events. It’s a short cut to create a situation that scares everyone.
Commissioner Jack Porter was also skeptical of the idea. Targeting large gatherings, she said, runs counter to the spirit of the events, which range from home football games to downtown block parties.
“What I don’t want to see is for us to start over-policing and run the risk of socializing or criminalizing certain people,” she said. “There’s no single solution here, but I don’t think this type of ordinance is going to be the root cause of our gun violence problems. I think all ideas should be given a fair hearing.
Mayor John Daley said businesses that allow “these groups to pop up in the middle of the night” will also be held accountable.
“We must continue to work with the business community, faith-based and nonprofit — everyone has a role to play in preventing gun violence in this community,” he said.
Daley and mayoral opponent Christine Dozier weigh in on the shooting
Daley, who is running for a second term against County Commissioner Christine Dozier, had the City Commission vote last month to seek to spend millions over the coming years on various initiatives to combat gun violence.
A portion of the money will be used to implement a group violence intervention strategy developed at John Jay College in New York. Funding is earmarked for local nonprofits through competitive Community Human Services Partnerships, restorative justice programs, and Crimestoppers.
“This is an issue that is very important to me,” said Mayor John Daley. “That’s why I’ve led the charge to set aside $1 million a year for the next five years so we can dedicate resources and continue to get to the root of this problem in our community.”
Dossier also expressed skepticism about new ordinances to address large crowds. She said the community needs to move quickly with Sheriff Walt McNeil’s actions, and the county’s new Commission on Men and Boys and city initiatives, she said, are “a good step in the right direction, albeit a little late.” to happen
“Keep up the progress,” she said. “Keep our foot on the pedal. We don’t have time to wait for a lot of committee meetings. We need to make sure we are taking action and trying to do things differently. Because community meetings and press conferences haven’t changed anything in the past.
‘Stop the carnage’: The county commission pays for the commission to prevent shootings
Both Dozier and Dailey praised the first responders — Dailey said the officers saved lives “in the middle of a firefight.”
“It’s very disheartening to know that we’ve got out-of-town groups coming into Tallahassee to cause trouble,” he said. “We also need to do a better job of working locally with elected officials in surrounding counties.”
Dossier noted that the shooting comes just days before the four-year anniversary of the Hot Yoga mass shooting that killed two innocent people and injured several others.
More: See photos from FSU’s 2022 memorial service honoring the victims of the 2018 yoga studio shooting
“It touches everyone in the community now,” she said. “People are worried about it. But they link it to the fact that gun violence has been on the rise for years and we’re really taking steps to address it this year.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.
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