Pompano Beach community seeks solutions amid frustration over gun violence

Anyone in the crowd of about 100 people was asked to stand if they had a loved one who was killed.

Lisa Sneed stood, along with about 10 others in the room. She is the mother of 35-year-old Dayvon Johnson, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in February 2023, along with Delana James, 31, who was soon to be a mother. Sneed told the South Florida Sun Sentinel her son and James, who did not know each other, were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A community meeting led by Sheriff Gregory Tony focused on action after a string of recent shootings in the city’s northwest, a predominantly Black area that elected leaders and residents say has long been economically disadvantaged and where a sense of hopelessness and anger seems to permeate due to gun violence, especially in the younger generation.

The same conversations were happening last year, when Johnson and James were killed. The talks were renewed after the shooting death of a 16-year-old where three others were injured last month, not far from where Johnson and James were killed last year, and a drive-by shooting that injured a 10-year-old boy days earlier.

Sneed said she felt after the three-hour conversation that the city could be on a path to finding and implementing solutions.

“You don’t know how serious and how bad this hurts until it hits home,” Sneed said. “I would have never thought in a million years that my son would be murdered. He has four kids. The youngest is three. And she’s still looking for her father, right now, today.”

Tony, city officials and residents all seemed to agree about the need for community resources to alleviate social and economic pitfalls that exacerbate crime and agree about the need for the community to cooperate more with deputies, but that the cooperation won’t come without residents knowing and trusting law enforcement.

Recent shootings

A total of eight people were murdered in Pompano Beach citywide between January and March so far this year in seven different incidents, according to a March monthly crime report from the Sheriff’s Office. Nine people were murdered in the same time frame in 2023, according to the report.

Among the murders is a March 25 shooting that killed 16-year-old John Zetrenne, of North Lauderdale, and injured three men outside of the plaza at 1780 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Three men were arrested in connection with the shooting: Devonte Lowe, 18, of Pompano Beach; Kyle Robinson, 19, of Pompano Beach; and Christan Moore, 21, also known as rapper “C Glizzy.” The shooting happened on the same block where Moore himself was shot in the head in 2019 when he was 16.

South Florida rapper C Glizzy, pastor’s grandson, is one of three arrested in Pompano murder

“One of the things that I have always said is important is trying to get justice when these crimes happen because … if people think they’re going to get caught, that is somewhat of a deterrent at least,” Fournier said of the recent arrests. “The fact that we arrested people this time is an excellent development because a lot of these crimes go unsolved. And that is a problem.”

As of Thursday, one shooting that has yet to see an arrest is the drive-by that injured the 10-year-old boy who was outside dribbling a basketball in the area near the 300 block of Northwest 18th Avenue.

Community effort

It was after the shooting of 16-year-old John Zetrenne that city officials at a commission meeting voiced frustration with the Sheriff’s Office. Hardin said at a March 26 meeting that the city was feeling “neglected,” not having heard from Tony after the recent shootings. Tuesday’s meeting at the E. Pat Larkins Community Center was set up after the complaints.

“I understand it’s not strictly law enforcement. I think most people (understand that too) … but there’s a large voice out there that says law enforcement is not doing what they should,” Hardin told the Sun Sentinel.

Perkins, whose district includes the sites of several shootings, told the Sun Sentinel she is similarly frustrated and is concerned about the city developing a reputation for violent crime. Despite having all the resources the Sheriff’s Office needs, she said, and receiving $59 million a year from the city for its services, “nothing seems to be working.”

Tony said that resolving gun violence is not a job exclusive to the Sheriff’s Office but will “take a community effort,” from residents and city officials, who decide how to allocate funding. Tony said he, the mayor and some commissioners have talked over the last year about how the Sheriff’s Office can increase policing without over-policing the west area.

One way to add to enforcement, Tony said, is to charge people federally with gun violations in addition to state charges. Federal charges can result in longer sentences and people could be charged under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which carry “stiffer penalties,” Tony said.

Tony said they’ve had success in making arrests in connection with the shooting that killed the 16-year-old, and he is “confident we’re going to get some resolutions,” in the shooting that injured the 10-year-old. Crime Stoppers and other measures are producing results, he said.

Three arrested in Pompano Beach shooting that killed teen, injured 3, deputies say

“All these things are working effectively, but the problem is, any time that someone loses a life, the instant response from the community is, ‘What is the Sheriff’s Office doing?'” Tony said.

Perkins said at the meeting she has created a citizens’ advisory committee and asked Tony if his staff would be willing to meet with them every other month to discuss crime in the northwest. He agreed before she finished her sentence.

Part of the problem, Tony said, is not enough participation between the residents and law enforcement and social issues, like a lack of resources for employment and education and for people experiencing mental illness and homelessness.

“So the challenge cannot just be, what is the law enforcement component doing, but what are we doing as a community to bring more balance, fairness and equitable opportunities for people to be successful in this community?” the sheriff said.

Just under 18% of all people in Pompano Beach are considered in poverty, higher than the state’s rate of just under 13%, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau in 2022, the most recently available data. As of 2024, an individual making less than $15,000 or a family of four making less than $31,000 combined is considered below the federal poverty line.

The largest age group of people considered in poverty, at about 34%, are under the age of 18. The median household income in Pompano Beach is about $61,000, below the state’s median of about $69,000.

Moss told the Sun Sentinel construction projects are ongoing in the Collier City neighborhood, which has long been “economically deprived,” and “conditions there are improving a good bit.”

Hardin said at the meeting that the city has invested in a new police substation in Collier City that is set to open soon and invested “tens of millions of dollars” in infrastructure over the years to get new businesses in the northwest.

Sarahca Peterson, an activist who lives in Deerfield Beach but who grew up in Pompano Beach, said the messages of what needs to change are not reaching the young people who need to hear them, and that the community and its residents can’t bear the brunt of bringing change.

“You can’t continue to come and put it on the community to do something. We don’t have money, we don’t have time, ’cause we at work, stuff too high,” she said. “Our kids got to now work. Y’all can’t keep putting that on us … ”

Stores site of shootings

The “epicenter” of many of the shootings in Pompano Beach are convenience stores, Fournier said at the commission meeting in March.

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Moss said that one particular convenience store in the 400 block of Northwest 27th Avenue has seen several shootings and the residents “would like to get rid of it.”

“I’ve been on the commission since 2014 with a two-year hiatus, and that particular store has been a real trouble spot all that time,” Moss said.

James, 31, of Fort Lauderdale, and Johnson, of Pompano Beach, were shot outside of the Community Food Store on Northwest 27th Avenue on Feb. 26, 2023. Three others were injured. One alleged gunmen was arrested, and detectives are still investigating leads to arrest others.

Two men were also killed in a shooting last Christmas Day at the Community Food Store, where a large crowd had congregated earlier that evening, blocking traffic.

Anup Aich, one of the partners of Community Food Store, said the business is doing what it can to prevent it from being a hang-out spot with reduced hours and the decision to close their kitchen.

“We’re trying our best to serve the community,” Aich said. “We are not against the community, but whatever we can do, we already tried.”

A plaza about a mile-and-a-half away is another place where a few shootings have been. The plaza at 1780 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. was where Zetrenne and the three others were shot. In December, a shootout there injured three men. Two men were arrested.

Amjad Hammad, who has owned the plaza for over two decades, said the recent incidents were “isolated” and “personal.” He said he routinely works with the Sheriff’s Office and has in the past hired armed security guards and contacted deputies to disperse loiterers. Shootings are happening throughout the community, not only at the stores that can oftentimes be blamed, he said.

“This stuff happens really everywhere,” he said. “People fall out, they beef with each other … All these little kids have guns on them.”

Several residents complained at the meeting of a store in the 200 block of North Powerline Road, J-Mar Food Store, being a common site for loitering and people who lack housing congregating.

George Elvecius, 39, was shot in the parking lot of the store on March 6 and later died at the hospital, according to the Sheriff’s Office. A man was arrested in connection with the shooting two weeks later.

Mohammed Naser, who works at the store, said there are homeless people who congregate in the area near the store and that he calls deputies often. He said he’s agreeable to working with city officials and law enforcement to “clean up” and that a Sheriff’s Office official came to the store Wednesday after the complaints at the meeting.

Jamal Robinson, a pastor, spoke passionately Tuesday about getting some of the stores that tend to be hot spots of criminal activity under control. Tony talked about starting to “build a case” about the businesses under nuisance abatement programs, by compiling data to bring to city administrators for further enforcement or to even possibly force them to vacate.

A new substation is in the works in Collier City on Northwest 27th Avenue. Moss said he hopes the project will be complete in the next six to nine months. Aich said he hopes once it opens, the store will be less of a gathering place and “we can get our business back.”

Information from the Sun Sentinel archives was used in this report.