© 2024 WFSU Public Media
WFSU News · Tallahassee · Panama City · Thomasville
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

As shootings continue, City Commission works to address gun violence crisis

Exterior of Tallahassee City Hall
Craig Moore
/
WFSU Public Media
Exterior of Tallahassee City Hall

Tallahassee Police are investigating three shootings that occurred over the weekend. One resulted in the death of a local teenager.

City Commissioner Jack Porter has been vocal about Tallahassee’s gun violence issue and hosted a virtual town hall earlier this year to discuss how gun violence is impacting Tallahassee. Now she is pushing for increased funding for programs she says could help reduce crime, such as “TEMPO.”

“TEMPO addresses disconnected youth, disconnected young adults, some of whom have a past of offenses, a past of crime,” says Porter about the program, “and connects them with job training, job opportunities.”

“Giving folks the skills they need,” Porter went on to say, “it’s not a silver bullet solution, but it helps.”

The City has also entered a formal partnership with other local government bodies to join the Council on the Status of Men and Boys and has committed $140,000 to that effort. The Council was created after the Leon County Sheriff’s Office released the ‘Anatomy of a Homicide’ report late last year. The goal of the report was to determine commonalities in the circumstances surrounding Leon County homicides.

Porter says reducing gun violence will be a main point of discussion in the commission’s upcoming budget workshops. While her colleagues on the City Commission agree gun violence is a major issue, Porter says they don’t always see eye-to-eye on possible solutions.

The commission will hold another budget workshop in May, and the budget will be finalized at the final hearing on September 21st.

Follow @bgrutherford99

Brett Rutherford is a reporter and news researcher at WFSU Pubic Media. From Riverview, Florida, he has earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Florida State University. During his time at Florida State, he was a reporter within the sports department at WVFS, the student-run on-campus radio station. In 2020, he served as Sports Director during his senior year and hosted the weekly talk show Tomahawk Talk.

Email Brett: brutherford2@fsu.edu