TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw hosted a meeting on Wednesday night to address gun violence after a deadly shooting over the weekend in Soho.
The shooting happened just before 3 a.m. on South Howard Avenue in Tampa in a parking lot.
Officers were on patrol on South Howard Avenue when the shooting happened.
"We can’t effectively police if we don’t know and understand the community concerns," said Chief Lee Bercaw with the Tampa Police Department.
Chief Bercaw, Mayor Jane Castor, and Council Member Bill Carlson hosted the meeting and listened to the community's concerns.
Dozens of people showed up to the meeting on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
Neighbors were concerned about the gun violence. They also had other concerns like loud music, late night hours for bars, litter, and loitering in the parking lots.
"There is excessive loitering in private, paid parking lots. That is where a lot of these things that I am observing are happening. People sitting in cars," said one concerned neighbor.
"I think we’ve enabled part of this problem by closing South Howard. I can’t go north on South Howard most Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights because there’s spillover. It makes bigger crowds, bigger crowds create more issues," said another concerned neighbor.
Chief Bercaw said the shooting in SoHo stemmed from an altercation between two rival groups.
"We do believe wherever they chose to go, this was probably going to happen and part of the investigation is one of the persons they were looking for recently just got out of jail. This was a beef between two groups," said Chief Bercaw.
TPD has added additional cameras in the area along with extra patrols.
"The other important element in this violent crime is individuals that are reaching for a firearm as their first alternative to some type of a disagreement and that is also a fundamental issue in our nation and we’re doing everything we can to change that type of a mindset in our community and ensure we stay safe," said Mayor Castor.
Anyone with information that could assist detectives in Sunday's deadly shooting is encouraged to call the Tampa Police Department at 812-231-6130 or submit an anonymous tip via Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay at 800-873-8477 or by texting SAFETAMPA to Tip411 (847411).
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