The Orlando Police Department is investigating a shooting that left one person dead on Tuesday.
According to OPD, officers responded to the 1400 block of Mercy Drive in reference to a shooting around 1:15 p.m.
There, officers located three people with gunshot wounds. All three were transported to hospitals.
Police say one individual is confirmed deceased, and one is expected to survive, but the condition of the third victim is unknown.
The suspect has not been identified at this time.
The triple shooting took place towards the back of the Jernigan Garden apartments, where multiple shootings have taken place before.
On the scene, WESH 2 could hear people screaming.
One woman told WESH 2 she was in her apartment when she heard the gunshots. She couldn’t say how many, but she said she heard a lot of them.
WESH heard from city and county commissioners following the shooting.
While police hadn’t released any information about the victims as of Tuesday night, both commissioners WESH 2 spoke with said it did involve young people.
And as they work to improve things in the area, they say that’s the group they’re particularly focused on helping.
“I’m still speechless,” said city commissioner Regina Hill.
“From what I’ve gathered, they were young, teenagers and young adults,” Hill said.
It’s a tragedy that this apartment complex has had to endure before. Just a few months back, the complex saw multiple shootings in less than two weeks.
One left a young woman dead.
County Commissioner Michael Scott said it’s a reality people living in the area have become all too used to.
“I hate to say this, but the ones that I did speak to, you know what it is, Mr. Mike. Same old same old,” Scott said they told him. “And that’s unfortunate. It shouldn’t be the same old, same old. It shouldn’t be the standard, the expectation that you know there’s going to be gun violence.”
Hill says her office has worked with the Orlando Police Department, and this complex, Jernigan Gardens, as they try to make the area as a whole, safer.
“Working with them to create a safety measures and services there in the area and particularly Jernigan Gardens,” Hill said.
She says they’re doing this through community violence intervention programs and the Mercy Drive Kids zones.
“Creating programs that divert some of the youth gun violence that we’ve seen in the past coming from that corner. But of course, unfortunately, gun violence has no boundaries,” Hill said.
Both commissioners say it is making a difference.
“We have seen the needle move,” Hill said.
“The tide’s already turning,” Scott said.
But there is still more work to do. And it requires working together.
“We’re gonna need the same collaboration from the community to keep our community safe,” Hill said. “Because it’s all of our responsibilities.”
Anyone with information is asked to call OPD or report a tip anonymously to Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS.
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Source: wesh
