{"id":407950,"date":"2026-09-23T05:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T05:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/407950\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T05:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T05:36:08","slug":"no-arrests-yet-after-sanford-mass-shooting-as-residents-cite-distrust-fear-of-retaliation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/407950\/","title":{"rendered":"No arrests yet after Sanford mass shooting as residents cite distrust, fear of retaliation"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANFORD, Fla. \u2013 Three days after a mass shooting at a memorial gathering in Sanford left eight people hurt<\/a>, police have not announced any arrests or named any suspects.<\/p>\n

Sanford Police say they are still working to identify who opened fire, but investigators are facing a familiar challenge: witnesses who will not talk.<\/p>\n

News 6 spoke with residents near the scene who said distrust of law enforcement and fear of retaliation may be keeping people from coming forward. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m saying to the people here in Sanford, and those who know what\u2019s going on, speak up,\u201d Sanford Police Chief Cecil Smith said on Monday.<\/p>\n

[WATCH: Neighbors, family shocked, scared after shooting in Sanford leads to 8 people hurt]<\/p>\n

A police spokesperson said only tips to Crimeline have been received in the 24 hours since that plea from the chief.<\/p>\n

One lifelong resident, Carlecia Keitt, said the lack of answers in past cases contributes to a feeling that speaking up will not lead anywhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of crimes go unsolved,\u201d Keitt said. \u201cAnd I think that people feel like they don\u2019t care. And so like, why talk if nothing\u2019s going to happen?\u201d<\/p>\n

Keitt said distrust in Sanford and surrounding communities has lingered for years, pointing to the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012, just miles away.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat did bring a lot of distrust with the police and how it was handled,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sanford Police incident reports related to the shooting contain heavy redactions, but one repeated note appears throughout: witnesses at the scene declined to provide information to officers, according to the documents.<\/p>\n

Still, Keitt urged people to cooperate with investigators.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s unfortunate that people won\u2019t speak up because I mean on one hand you feel like the police aren\u2019t helping, but if you\u2019re not talking, then they can\u2019t really help,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

[WATCH: Grandmother asks \u2018why\u2019 after shooting at Sanford memorial]<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, community groups say they are stepping in. <\/p>\n

The Youth Peace & Justice Foundation, a national nonprofit, is planning community patrols in the area. <\/p>\n

Pastor Irma Taylor of Second Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church said at least a dozen churches plan to gather Friday evening at the same park near where the shooting occurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that faith is really what\u2019s going to make the difference,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She added that even if locals do not feel comfortable speaking to law enforcement, the faith community has a responsibility to step forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, it takes things like this for us to really like kind of open our eyes and say \u2018You know what, we probably need to be out there.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

News 6 requested an interview with Smith on Tuesday, but was told he was unavailable.<\/p>\n

Sanford Police is asking anyone with information to call the department or Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS (8477). Crimeline tips can be made anonymously.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANFORD, Fla. \u2013 Three days after a mass shooting at a memorial gathering in Sanford left eight people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[265,1598,139,141,140,277,2647,1014],"class_list":["post-407950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-crime","tag-law-enforcement","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-public-safety","tag-sanford","tag-seminole-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407950","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=407950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}