ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Nearly two weeks after what is known as a “teen takeover” that led to a 17-year-old getting shot in Clearwater, communities around Tampa Bay continue to talk about how to stop the same thing from happening in their neighborhoods.
On Friday, the public came out to a community meeting in St. Petersburg. Some spoke about providing activities to make sure kids don’t have too much free time on their hands, others talked about the importance of mentorship, and more than one said it’s up to people in the community to get involved and try to make a difference.
“It was tough. It was tough, but it was also a wake-up call,” Lewis Stephens, Jr. said of his reaction to seeing a video of the teen takeover on Clearwater Beach.
Stephens is an assistant pastor with Kingdom Changers Church and says he wasn’t the only one concerned.
“Just not the congregation, but the community as a whole. We don’t want to see our young people locked up. We don’t want to see our young people with records, and then we don’t want to see our young people tearing up our community,” said Stephens.
He put out the call to other pastors, community leaders, and the public to take part in this town hall. Bishop Manuel Sykes provided the space at Bethel Community Baptist Church for the meeting.
“This kind of behavior can be dangerous, but it also has meaning behind it. It’s a way of youth expressing themselves, although negatively. It does give us something to think about,” said Sykes.
Moderator Kyandra Darling says she responded to Stephens’ call to action because she thinks the answer to stopping teen takeovers in St. Pete can be found in the community.
“There are resources that are available in community, and we recognize that, and still, if those resources were enough, we wouldn’t be seeing what we’re seeing right now,” said Darling.
Stephens said the town hall was just phase one. He said he next wants to organize a meeting with teens. The goal is to take the feedback from both meetings and come up with a plan to bring change to the community.
City Councilman Copley Gerdes also attended the meeting. He told residents he got word of a possible teen takeover in his district. He said police addressed it, and while there’s no way to know what could’ve happened, he said the important thing was that it was reported. Gerdes told Spectrum News that’s another way residents can help — if they see or hear about a possible takeover, report it.