Parramore neighborhood on edge after drive-by shooting near park

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Two shootings on Tuesday have Orlando and Orange County neighborhoods on edge.

A 9-year-old was shot Tuesday while sleeping on a friend’s couch, investigators said.

The victim is stable and will be hospitalized overnight, deputies said.

Later in the day, parents said they had to shield their children from getting hit by bullets at a playground and a witness said of those bullets went inside her home.

The shooters in both cases are still on the loose.

The shootings were reported hours apart and less than three miles away from one another.

In the first shooting, a little girl was hit in the leg inside a home near Orange Blossom Trail and Kaley Avenue.

The second shooting was reported at midday near the Dr. J.B. Callahan Neighborhood Center on Parramore Avenue and Washington Street.

Police said they have one person in custody in connection with the shooting, but investigators won’t say if that person is under arrest or if the shooting was random.

Two mothers said it started as a quiet afternoon in the park and quickly turned into a nightmare.

They said they were with their children in the park when bullets started flying.

“I just said, ‘Kids, let’s go. We don’t want to get shot,’” said one of the mothers, who asked not to be identified.

She said nearly two dozen children were playing outside when several people drove by in an SUV, rolled down a window and started firing a gun.

The mothers said they jumped on their children to protect them from the gunfire.

“We (saw) the car come and they started shooting someone. The only thing we could do was just get down and wait for it to stop,” said one of the mothers.

Police found several shell casings in a parking lot.

Witnesses said at least one bullet hit a man in the arm, but Orlando police said the man told officers that he didn’t want to press charges against the shooters.

The mother said she’s disgusted that she can’t take her children out to play in a park without worrying about a drive-by shooting.

“In broad daylight. They just have no heart,” she said.

Cox Media Group