SARASOTA, Fla. - Neighbors are concerned after three people were shot, all in the leg, in three days within the Newtown community.
“I’m saddened very saddened," said Rose McKenzie, who lives in the area. "I hope the gun violence stops. It’s been scary for young people and older people. A stray bullet doesn’t’ know anyone."
Two of the shootings happened on Friday - less than seven hours apart.
“At this point in the investigation too early to tell if all the shootings are connected however it’s possible,” said Genevieve Judge, Sarasota Police spokesperson.
Surveillance cameras were present at each crime scene, but the cameras haven't worked for about a year, police said.
City officials said the cameras were a good distance away and would have not captured what happened, but seven cameras in total were located near the crime scenes.
Community approach working?
Sarasota police have used a community policing approach in Newtown, and while some say it helps build relationships between police and the community, other question its impact on crime in the area.
“For north Sarasota area we do have a high number of calls in for services," Judge said.
Sarasota police responded to 14 aggravated assault and battery with a gun calls, along with one homicide, in Newtown between Jan. 1 and May 8.
There were seven aggravated assault and battery with a gun calls, and no killings, during that time span in 2017.
Despite the increase, community leader Jetson Grimes says things are better in Newtown.
“This community is a safe community that’s moving forward," he said. "When you see growth happen in the community, streetscaping, projects taking root it changes the dynamic of crime incidents in this community.”
In a statement, city officials said 19 cameras haven’t worked for multiple reasons, including recent construction interfering with the camera’s line-of-sight, the wireless function stopped working and some are damaged.
$150,000 has been budgeted for the 2018-19 fiscal year to fix the cameras and have a full-time city employee operate the system.
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