NORTH PORT, Fla. — People on social media are once again spreading the word about Gabby Petito online.
Monday afternoon, flowers were delivered to Brian Laundrie's house in North Port.
Stephanie Savage who lives in Houston said she felt there needed to be a memorial at Brian Laundrie's house.
"I was really dumbfounded how no one in the Tampa area had started one," Savage said. That's why all the way from Texas, she ordered flowers to be delivered on Monday.
Savage then saw Twitter explode with others doing the same. A 10 Tampa Bay news crew outside of the Laundrie home saw several delivery drivers with Instacart and local florists deliver flowers to the house.
In no time, #FlowersForGabby was spreading on Twitter. At that same time, a community service aide with the North Port Police Department showed up at the house. The official stated all flowers had to be brought to the memorial at city hall. The official said public works was going to come Monday night and throw all the flowers away.
"The Twitter followers started contacting North Port Police and telling them they had no right to do this," Savage added.
Others who sent flowers agreed. “I would be shocked if flower deliveries violate any laws," Stephanie Harris said.
10 Tampa Bay reached out to the North Port Police Department for clarification. The spokesman for the department said, "in a chaotic situation," the community service aide officer misspoke. In the case that there is a complaint on private property where people are placing items, police can step in accordance with the law. In this case, there were no complaints.
Stephanie Harris sent flowers from Chicago because she saw people doing the same on Twitter. "The message this police department needs to send right now is not that they are policing flower deliveries on the Laundrie’s front lawn," Harris explained.
Harris said she was upset to learn the flowers were being brought to city hall. Her intention of ordering them was so the Laundrie family would see them.
“I think the effort to send flowers, is not to troll the Laundrie family or be cruel, what it is, is an attempt to say, you cannot silence victims like Gabby," Harris explained.
Harris said she doesn't wish anything ill among Brian's parents, but instead wants them to acknowledge Gabby's life.
“You cannot erase that they were here and she was here," Harris added.