Unlike many other parts of the country, Tallahassee has so far been spared the worst of the fentanyl epidemic. But Second Judicial Circuit State Attorney Jack Campbell fears that's changing.
"We just took 1 kilogram - 2.2 pounds - off the street the other day. We were listening to their calls and they were talking amongst themselves about the fact they just had someone overdose and die in Jefferson County. They were making fun of the client dying of it! So we had to accelerate our investigation to go grab that 2.2 pounds. These guys don't care."
But while fentanyl is posing more of a threat, Campbell said the drug connected to the most gun violence remains marijuana. Does that mean that Tallahassee's youthful gun violence is connected to gang activity? Sheriff Walt McNeil thinks there are no real organized gangs to speak of in the area. But he insists there are two factors at play in the community that create the conditions to link young people and firearms.
"Poverty in a particular section of our community. The other being the number of youth in our community who are expelled or suspended from school who wind up in the criminal justice system. And those same kids hang together, have fights and get into shootings."
McNeil was part of a public safety panel along with Campbell, Public Defender Jessica Yeary and Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell. They appeared before members of the Capital Tiger Bay Club for a panel discussion on public safety on Wednesday, May 29.
