FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A 16-year-old girl was shot and taken to the hospital after Fort Pierce Police said it responded to a shooting on Saturday night after an "altercation" near the Lincoln Park Community Center.
Police said the girl was released from the hospital. It's the eighth shooting, which WPTV has covered, within a month in the city's northwest neighborhood. Those shootings injured at least 10 people and multiple victims are under 18 years old.
St. Lucie County manages the community center, which is covered with cameras on the exterior of the building.
A spokesperson for the county said county staff is cooperating with the sheriff's office investigation in an email.
WPTV reporter Ethan Stein saw a van outside the community center with a bullet hole, which is marked as evidence with a previous date. There is also broken glass within the car and the exterior of the building. Neighbors said children usually use the center for summer programs during the week. People also said they often hear fighting around the community center and occasional gunshots.
Joseph Ferguson, who said he lives in northwest Fort Pierce, said he's frustrated with the amount of shootings in the neighborhood. He said it's hard to enjoy activities during the night.
"We can't really walk at night. We can’t enjoy ourselves at night time. We can't go clubbing," Ferguson said. "We ask our Mayor and Commissioners about our situation. They don’t want to anything for it."
Fort Pierce
What's being done to resolve gun violence in Fort Pierce?
Nikittia White, who lost her daughter to gun violence in the Martin Luther King Jr. parade, made a similar argument to WPTV last Sunday.
"I don't think they (city officials) think it's a big problem," White said last Sunday. "I don't. Not as big as it is. They need to do more. They can do more if they wanted to do more."
She hosted a community event last Sunday where kids simulated murder scenes across the house from a victim of gun violence. People, who attended the event also brought their frustrations to Fort Pierce's regular scheduled city council meeting on Monday.
"The city needs some type of hope. We don't want you to come lie to us," said Fort Pierce resident Lisa Faya Prince-Mobley, who waited over three hours until public comment to share her concerns. "We don’t want you to come say you have a solution if you don’t have a solution."
The city of Fort Pierce said it's talking with nonprofits like the Florida Rights Restoration Committee, based in Orlando, and the Circle of Brotherhood, based in Miami, about solutions to their gun violence problem.
This is an ongoing investigation into this shooting, which hurt a 16-year-old. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact Detective Kelvin Ramirez at 772-828-0285 or kramirez@fppd.org or Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers 1-(800)-273-8477.
