{"id":412792,"date":"2026-09-28T13:42:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/412792\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T13:42:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:42:34","slug":"sanford-community-gathers-to-demand-end-to-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/412792\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanford community gathers to demand end to violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANFORD, Fla. \u2014 A small crowd gathered in Sanford Saturday night to call for an end to violence, exactly one week after a shooting left eight people hurt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The event was planned before last weekend\u2019s shooting, but organizers said the violence gave the event new meaning as community members came together to push for change.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get the community back to how it used to be,\u201d event organizer Deon Casey said.<\/p>\n

This was the second effort to gather in the community. On Friday, pastors, community leaders, and residents came together for prayer near the site of the shooting.<\/p>\n

Those marching Saturday said they want to see more people take an active role in preventing violence, particularly by reaching young people.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need more fathers to step up and be men and teach their kids to be men and do things the right way instead of the wrong way,\u201d Marvin Killingsworth said. \u201cDon\u2019t give your child a gun and tell them to \u2018go ahead.\u2019 Give them a tool or hammer or something and teach them to be more sophisticated with their time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gunfire broke out shortly before 10 p.m. last Saturday near 9th Street and Poplar Avenue. Police said eight people were shot. Five have since been released from the hospital, while three remain hospitalized.<\/p>\n

The shooting happened during a family gathering honoring an 18-year-old who died in a car crash six years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t have events anymore, we can\u2019t even come to our old neighborhoods to see our families because there\u2019s shootings, there\u2019s killings going on,\u201d Killingsworth said.<\/p>\n

Organizers said even a small turnout can be the beginning of a greater effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if one person, 10 people, 1,000 people show up,\u201d Sam Jones Jr. said. \u201cIt matters that we came here and we\u2019re going to start being the change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanford police are continuing to investigate last weekend\u2019s shooting and are asking for the public\u2019s help identifying the drivers of two BMW\u2019s now in police custody that investigators believe may be connected to the shooting.<\/p>\n

Crimeline is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information. Tips can be submitted anonymously.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

TOP STORIES FROM WFTV CHANNEL 9<\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANFORD, Fla. \u2014 A small crowd gathered in Sanford Saturday night to call for an end to violence,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,141,140,2647],"class_list":["post-412792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-sanford"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412792","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=412792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}