While some other places in the state and nation are troubled by young people taking over the streets, Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell says his city has a different problem: Pop-up parties in places like parking garages.
"It seems like this year there is a resurgence of that. We have plans. We have extra patrols and we're bringing extra people in. So anytime we see those or hear about those, we're sending officers to get in ahead of them or right at the beginning to shut those down."
It was one of these parties in a parking garage near the FSU campus a few weekends back that ended in a fatal shooting. Investigators say 18-year old Gavin Yates-Lyons apparently wasn't the target. No arrests have been made yet in the case. Even as TPD's extra patrols are on the lookout for such gatherings, Revell is urging the city's residents to say something if they see something.
"So my encouragement to the community is, if you see one of these or hear about it, please let us know. That way we can get ahead of it and break the parties up before they get to be that big and you have the kind of confrontation that, unfortunately, seems to accompany almost all of these pop-up parties."
Three people were struck by gunfire at the May 24th party. Only Yates-Lyons was critically injured. He died on June 1st.
