The shooting at the McDonalds/Circle K station on Lake Bradford Road on March 29 that left Curtis Brown, 26, dead and six others injured has been receiving a lot of attention.
The common nightclub “let-out” location and the age of the shooters and victims, has impacted many students.
The amount of people killed and injured is not the only concern, but gang violence is also a prevalent issue.
Now, after the arrest of the fourth shooter, the evidence alleged that all the shooters were members of local gangs.
The Tallahassee Police Department suggests the gang problem is getting worse.
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, police have linked 55 crimes involving guns committed between November 2005 and May 2008 to gangs.
“The Tallahassee Police Department’s gang-response unit has identified 225 gang members and associates, the youngest being 11 years old.
That’s up from about 100 in 2005,” reported the Democrat.
These statistics are startling.
Until the shooting incident, many were unaware of the problems that gangs cause in Tallahassee.
It is unfortunate that someone’s life has to be taken, in order to bring light to such a serious situation.
Many may have thought that gangs stopped in the 1990’s, but it’s still an on-going problem today.
This problem must be addressed before it gets any worse. Many of the organizations that target at risk youth have been cut.
We have to work to bring back these programs and to provide an outlet to our local youth, other than gangs.
Faran Foy for the Editorial Board.