Pubdate: Tue, 08 Jun 2004
Source: News-Press (FL)
Copyright: 2004 The News-Press
Contact:  http://www.news-press.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1133
Author: Andi Atwater, News-Press

POLICE TRY TO QUELL SURGE IN VIOLENCE

Drugs, disputes and bullets are defining a rash of violence on the
streets of Fort Myers these days, saddening residents and frustrating
the police officers trying to protect them.

Since May, at least 13 people have been injured by gunshots and one
man died as personal grievances and heated arguments escalated into
retribution with weapons and, almost as often, retaliation.

Police say they've worked hard to lower violent crimes in Fort Myers,
but the recent string of shootings is more than just random acts.

"We're looking at several groups in the city, drug related, that are
basically going back and forth," said Fort Myers police Maj. Doug
Baker. "A couple of groups robbed one of the others of money and drugs
. and that started it. There's no way to predict and control that."

Police are still looking for the gunman in Sunday's shooting in which
two men were injured by an automatic weapon in the parking lot of
Tropical Latina, 3639 Palm Beach Blvd.

And they're still looking for the gunmen in another double shooting at
Edgewood Avenue and Van Buren Street on Saturday.

One of the victims in that shooting was identified Monday as Roberto
Rubina, whose condition is listed as critical, but who is expected to
live, police spokeswoman Lisa Smith said. A second victim was treated
and released.

And that was just last weekend.

"People are getting used to it ... it's almost like they're calloused
to it," said Jade Pleshe, 20, a pastor at Cornerstone Ministries on
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. "I believe a lot of these
shootings come from a need in somebody's heart, people who don't know
how to deal with their emotions. We are doing our best to be a very
open place, open to whoever needs anything."

Not all of the shootings are related, but some of the violence can be
traced back for weeks.

Two men were charged with attempted murder in connection with a Fort
Myers nightclub shooting May 2 that injured six people.

Later that day, relatives of the accused shooters awoke to hear shots
fired into their homes.

No one was injured, but police said friends of the victims most likely
were retaliating.

Then, on May 7, one man was killed and two others injured outside a
neighborhood grocery in Dunbar.

A few weeks later, police caught a man they believe shot and injured
another man riding his bicycle May 19 near Maryland Avenue and B Street.

"It's been going on for years -- you just go on with your life," said
Dunbar resident Sam Moore, 60, who lives a few blocks from the
grocery. "I hate to see it happening, people going around killing one
another for nothing. But these kids can't get no jobs and they resort
to drugs and crimes and such. They get into the system and they can't
get out."

Police say they've made it harder on the drug dealers. Since annexing
parts of Dunbar last fall, police have conducted numerous drug-busting
operations in the city's roughest neighborhoods.

But the push exacerbates tensions among dealers and other criminal
types, possibly leading to violence -- until they're taken off the
streets, police say.

"It becomes harder to stand on the corner and make a dime -- you
either eat or not eat," Baker said. "The have-nots want to take from
the haves, so to speak."

Gun violence, especially among criminals -- many of the shooters and
victims have long crime records in Lee County -- is about as difficult
to predict and prevent as domestic violence, police say.

But the city's police are cracking down on those most likely to commit
these crimes.

When the shootings and retaliations began in earnest about six weeks
ago, Chief Hilton Daniels greenlighted a violent crimes task force, a
group of detectives from general crimes, narcotics and violent crimes
working together.

"Our goal is to get these people off the street as quickly as
possible," Baker said. "We identify those people most prone to commit
violent crimes... and we focus on them. Inevitably they're going to
commit a crime. They're going to slip up at some point and we'll get
them." 
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