Police said a pair of shootings that left one man critically injured and another dead are related. Now they are hoping to get two dangerous men off the streets before someone retaliates.
Toni Williams used to live in Parkside Garden Apartments. Her nieces and nephews still do. She was making sure they get home from school OK Wednesday after warnings from police a day earlier. Gun violence is a big problem in this community.
“You have to be careful these days out here with these people shooting, I mean this killing has to stop at some point,” Williams said.
Thursday morning Samuel Washington was shot and killed right in front of Marion County’s NAACP office while sitting in the backseat of a car with a group of people from the Parkside Garden Apartments neighborhood.
Ocala Police captured two Silver Springs Shores men that day, Laquan Barrow and Howard Lee Hill.
Hill had just been released from jail two days earlier.
"The first two who were arrested were actually pulling the driver from the car and punching him in the head and face area,” Sgt. Angy Scroble said.
Detectives said Washington’s murder was in retaliation for a shooting a week earlier. Silver Springs Shores resident Michael Drayton was critically injured in the shooting.
Police said that the two groups have gotten into arguments at a nearby nightclub. Each time the arguments turn into shootings.
Parkside Garden Apartments is directly across the street from a community center which is home to Head Start and after school programs.
A sign on the building said it's a safe haven, but neighbors and even police admit it’s hard for anyone living in these neighborhoods to feel safe right now.
“A bullet can go just about anywhere especially if someone is in motion," said Sgt. Scroble. "They are just aiming in the general direction of someone. We definitely want all our citizens to be aware and be cautious.”
Police said this isn’t gang warfare, but just two groups of people associating with people in their neighborhoods.
Police have issued warrants for the arrest of 20-year-old Tydree Barrow and 19-year-old Gerod Rawls related to the homicide.
Each are wanted for four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.