TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Police held a community forum Friday evening to brainstorm solutions with neighbors on how to address gun violence.
At the forum, it seemed like the general consensus on solving the issue came down to reaching out to the youth.
“My son was murdered, and then his son was murdered,” one neighbor shared after stepping up to the microphone.
Tampa Police Chief Mary O’Connor says 253 firearms have already been seized in the east Tampa area this year.
“They got nothing to do, but to go get in trouble with the rest of the kids,” one man said. “Free lunches, put the parks back, free pools,” he said, listing things that many believe would keep kids out of trouble. “It’s hot…we turn the fire hydrant on, they come cut it off. We try to go to the pool, you gotta pay. We don’t got no money, it’s tight right now!”
Business owner Eric Adams, who offered his parking lot to the police department to host this event, knows what can happen when kids fall into the wrong lifestyle.
“I spent half of my life in prison, so I’ve been on the side of crime,” Adams said. “Committing crimes, selling drugs.”
But now, Adams is trying to set a positive example. He says he owns multiple businesses and says he spent much of his time in prison coming up with ways to prevent kids from his neighborhood from making the same dangerous decisions.
“I was born and raised from the projects, so I know what it is to struggle and come up, and have to deal with the streets,” he said. “But, if I would have had somebody to follow that would have taught me better, I would have went that route.”
To cut off the bad influences, neighbors in Tampa are calling for more free youth programs, as a way to get the kids to those programs.
“I’m able to take my son a little farther from the home to take him to the park, but some parents don’t have that transportation,” Earlishia Oates who is a mother said.
At the forum, Chief Mary O’Connor said they would schedule another public meeting like this for July.
She also said that for June 2022, compared to last year, firearm offenses are down 50%.
O’Connor said another part of their push is a gun buyback event the department is hosting on June 25. That event will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and people can get $100 per gun, “no questions asked.”
There will be two locations for the gun buyback: the West Tampa Community Center at 2103 N Rome Avenue, as well as in the parking lot on the Southeast corner of Bird Street and I-175.
This is a drive-thru event where you have to remain in your car, and all weapons must be placed in your trunk or the rear of your vehicle. Handguns, shotguns, rifles and assault weapons are eligible.