ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Jasada Barrette was sleeping when a stray bullet went through her back and into her stomach.
More than two dozen bullets had been fired into the home where she slept on 13th Street near Apopka. The shots came from an AK-47 assault rifle, authorities said.
“The nurse told me it just missed her spine," said Jasada's sister, Latoyia Moton.
Young Jasada had multiple surgeries to repair severe internal injuries.
"I am especially troubled that this time it involves an innocent child," said Pastor Michael Warren of the Pleasant View Baptist Church.
Just over a week before Jasada’s home was riddled with bullets, a man saw cars speeding away from the intersection of Powers Drive and Livingston Street in Orange County.
"He was in the middle of the road when I came to the scene," said witness Andre Demps.
And it was in the middle of that road that 17-year-old Jose Altamirano took his last breath.
The memorial sign of mourning and loss sits just down the street from the sign declaring Orlo Vista a “Safe Neighborhood”.
Channel 9's Karla Ray learned that county leaders have spent the last 14 years trying to clean up Jasada’s ‘safe neighborhood’, complete with an action plan focused on outreach.
But residents say things are getting worse.
Its designation allows for two additional patrol officers every day.
Within a year of December 14, those deputies worked 612 hours, making 581 self-initiated neighborhood checks, but they've only made three arrests.
Sheriff Jerry Demings said detectives need help from neighbors to fix the issues here.
Monday on #WFTVat5, Channel 9’s Karla Ray investigates if Orlando’s safe neighborhoods are really safer after millions of dollars have been poured into programs to make them so.
WFTV
