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ORLANDO, Fla. – A 17-year-old girl who was preparing to start college next month was shot and killed at an Orange County apartment complex<\/a>, leaving her family mourning the loss of what her mother called her “best friend.”<\/p>\n The Orange County<\/a> Sheriff’s Office said Skyler Bradford was shot and killed Wednesday at an apartment complex on Old Cheney Highway. No arrests have been announced, and investigators have not identified any suspects.<\/p>\n What they’re saying:<\/p>\n Bradford’s mother, Rodnesha Speed, described her daughter as an outgoing teenager who had recently graduated from high school ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n “Energetic, very positive, motivating young lady,” Speed said. “She loved being the big sister, especially to the little babies.”<\/p>\n The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said Skyler Bradford was shot and killed on July 29, 2026, at an apartment complex on Old Cheney Highway. [Credit: Dorisha Speed and Rodnesha Speed] <\/p>\n Speed said her daughter was excited to begin college in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n “She was super excited about that. She was supposed to start college next month,” she said.<\/p>\n The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said Skyler Bradford was shot and killed on July 29, 2026, at an apartment complex on Old Cheney Highway. [Credit: Dorisha Speed and Rodnesha Speed] <\/p>\n Instead, the family is planning Bradford’s funeral.<\/p>\n Speed said she lives in the Tampa area and that her daughter was visiting Orlando when she was killed.<\/p>\n She said neighbors told her they heard an argument before the shooting.<\/p>\n “The neighbors also said they heard an argument… Then they heard a gunshot, and then they didn’t hear anything,” Speed said.<\/p>\n Grieving the loss of her daughter, Speed said:<\/p>\n “I’m never going to see my daughter again. That was my best friend.”<\/p>\n As detectives continue investigating the shooting, Speed said she remains determined to seek justice.<\/p>\n “I won’t stop fighting until justice is served,” she said.<\/p>\n What you can do:<\/p>\n The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said the investigation remains active. No arrests have been made. If you have any information, call Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS (8477).<\/p>\n The Source: This story was written based on information shared by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and Skyler Bradford’s mother, Rodnesha Speed.<\/p>\n Orange County News<\/a>Crime and Public Safety<\/a>Orlando News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. – A 17-year-old girl who was preparing to start college next month was shot and killed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[630,47,115,1335,139,141,140,628],"class_list":["post-358252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-crime-publicsafety","tag-fl","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/wofl-skyler-bradford1.jpg\")
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