West Palm Beach police were on the scene at dawn investigating an overnight double murder on 19th Street near Tamarind Avenue Friday morning, July 24, 2015. A man and woman were shot and killed just after midnight. (Lannis Waters / The Palm Beach Post)
West Palm Beach police Sgt. William Nealy drives through the city’s Northwest neighborhood with his windows down, pointing out some of the places where young men were shot and killed last summer. Then he points to where their families live — many with young children running carefree up and down the street where police tape once hung. Then, the places where the cliques that perpetrated the shootings call home, just blocks away most of the time.
“There’s good people and there’s bad people. And there’s good people that make bad decisions,” he said.
During summer of 2015, 10 people were killed and 28 were wounded due to gun violence focused primarily in the Tamarind Avenue corridor. Of those shot, two-thirds were younger than 25 years old.
West Palm Beach police Chief Bryan Kummerlen, seen here while police responded to a double homicide in July 2015, says several changes to the way his officers patrol should help the city this summer. Among them is a clearer sense of what is happening in city neighborhoods. (Rich Graulich / The Palm Beach Post)
Nearly all of the cases remain open a year later. Surveillance cameras that were supposed to capture some of the violence didn’t work and won’t be replaced until the end of 2016, according to the city. Though the police know the main “players” and cliques involved, they still can’t make arrests a year later because they lack evidence.
As school ended this week, the question of what this summer holds remains on many people’s minds. Though officers say not every summer is violent, the city and its police department have readjusted their strategies and added new programs in an attempt to deter violence. Since May 25, two people have been injured in shootings in the Northwest, a historic neighborhood bordered by Tamarind to the west, Rosemary Avenue to the east, Third Street to the south and 11th Street to the north. One was a juvenile and at least one linked to ongoing feuds.
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