Fort Lauderdale officials, NAACP urge residents to come forward with tips in shootings
Weeks after a 3-year-old toddler and a 28-year-old mother were killed in two separate shootings in Fort Lauderdale, their killings remain unsolved. On Wednesday, Mayor Dean Trantalis pleaded for people to come forward with any information that could help police.
“Today, I am calling on everyone who is seeing this message: If you know something, say something,” Trantalis said at a press conference at Lincoln Park. “We need your help to solve these crimes and bring peace to our streets. Your smallest piece of information could lead to a major breakthrough in our pursuit of justice for these victims.”
Representatives of the NAACP’s Fort Lauderdale/Broward branch stood alongside the mayor, offering to act as a liaison for anyone who didn’t feel comfortable reaching out to law enforcement directly.
“Just as our community comes to our office to file complaints against companies or law enforcement, whomever, we’re asking to use [us as] that same resource to come and share the information that you know,” branch president Marsha Ellison said at the press conference. “Somebody always knows something.”
Wednesday’s press conference came weeks after the city held a press conference seeking answers in the July 21 shooting death of 3-year-old Rylo Yancy at a birthday party.
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Shortly before that incident, a 2-year-old boy, Deagoo Henry, was injured in a July 8 drive-by shooting that left his mother, Tiarra Holliday, 28, and another man, Sheldon Lawrence, 45, dead. Two other people were also injured in the shooting.
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Ellison said the local NAACP branch has worked with law enforcement in the city for decades and has a standing monthly meeting with Fort Lauderdale Police Chief William Schultz and his staff.
“When they’re wrong, I say they’re wrong, and when they’re right, and I say they’re right, but whatever the truth is, you can count on the NAACP for sharing that,” Ellison said. “But we need to be about the business of safety in our own community.”
Florida state Sen. Rosalind Osgood, a Fort Lauderdale native, urged residents to understand their role in the community problem of gun violence, saying that police, the mayor and elected officials cannot solve it alone.
“We need every element of the community engaged in our hoods,” she said. “We gotta step up and level up, because the next shooting could be your daughter, your son, your mother.”
Both Osgood and U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick emphasized the need for legislative action regarding gun violence.
“The root problem is that we have guns coming into our communities,” Cherfilus-McCormick said. “ We have accessibility issues when it comes to guns, and we just don’t have the stringent gun laws that we need in place.”
Residents were also urged to call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477 to report any relevant information for law enforcement to look into. Crime Stoppers tipsters can remain anonymous.
