TAMPA, Fla. — There was a good amount of frustration from some of the people who attended a meeting in Ybor City to discuss how to move forward after the recent shooting that called the neighborhood’s safety into question.
“Ybor deserves better,” one speaker said. “The City of Tampa deserves better.”
According to the Tampa Police Department, in the early morning hours of Oct. 29, a fight between two groups of people sparked a shooting along E. 7th Ave. that left two dead, including a 14-year-old, and others injured.
One man was arrested, and the department has asked the public to help identify other people of interest.
In the Tuesday community meeting, hosted by Tampa Police Department Chief Lee Bercaw called the shooting “tragic and unacceptable.” He also referred to it as an “isolated” incident.
“You, sir, are badly misinformed,” responded Eric Schiller, the owner of Gaspar’s Grotto.
In the meeting, some, like Schiller, disagreed with the chief and said they believe violence is now out of hand.
“Since I’ve been here in 2016, my house has been shot up,” another community member told the chief. “Somebody’s been shot across the street from me.”
They think the city can and should do more.
But that’s why the chief and Tampa Police hosted the meeting. They were there to ask the community for possible solutions—and they heard many.
“I believe that we can easily implement four or five things that we’re probably already doing but could possibly be doing better,” said Ivan Rivera with the Ybor Heights Neighborhood Association.
What are some of the possible solutions? Conflict resolution training for young people, using school resource officers to increase police presence here on busier nights, and a curfew for young people to prevent them from gathering outside Ybor bars after midnight—a time Bercaw called Ybor’s “witching hour.”
Niki Carraway, who attended the community meeting, lost her husband to gun violence not far from Ybor.
“Every day, I turn on the news, and I see that another family is going through what I have went through,” she said. “It’s like reliving that day all over again.”
Her take? The violence problem isn’t one for the city to solve alone.
“This is a community problem, and as the community, we have got to start to come together,” she said.
