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Recent Gun Violence Across Tallahassee

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TALLAHASSEE, FLa. (WTXL) — The latest shooting in Tallahassee took place at a student apartment complex off West Tharpe Street.

According to Tallahassee Police, there have been 15 shootings in the city since July 1.

Most of those shootings were in the 32304, 8 of them ending with someone being hurt. In the 32303, where the latest shooting happened, there have been 4 connected to 3 deaths.

"It's not super safe where I live. Maybe in other areas, but where I live, it definitely could improve," said Adam Spohn. Spohn lives in the 32303 zip code in Tallahassee with his wife and three young kids. He said the area isn't as safe as it was when he moved here 3 years ago.

The 32303 is the same zip code where 2 people were found dead inside the Plato Villa's at San Marco's apartments Friday night off West Tharpe Street.

It's also a community that has seen 4 shootings since July, with at least 3 of them ending with someone being killed.

Those shootings are part of the reason why Spohn said more needs to be done. Along with asking for more police presence, he said it's up to people in the neighborhood to have each others backs.

"People in certain areas need to get together like they used to back in the day and just say look we're going to form 10 people and we're going to just keep an eye on each other," said Spohn.

If it feels as if there are more shootings in the city this year, that's because there have been, according to data from the Tallahassee Police Department.

"Our officers are always working proactively in our community. They're always working to you know conduct traffic stops and things where they might be able to get guns off the streets and get illegal narcotics off the streets," said Heather Merritt, a spokesperson for TPD.

Although officers are working to get in front of bad situations before they take place, shootings from 2021 to 2022 are trending up.

From January to August in 2021, there were 50 shootings total and 8 deaths.
In comparison to 2022, so far there has been 62 shootings and 9 deaths in that same time frame.

Currently, the most shootings are being reported in the 32304 zip code, an area known to have a history of gun violence issues.

Very little details have been released regarding the shooting that took place at the apartment complex on West Tharpe Street. Police say it is an isolated incident.