Brevard County law enforcement agencies see trend in youth gun violence

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Law enforcement agencies around Brevard County have noticed a disturbing trend: youth gun violence.

They have launched a multi-agency task force to deal with a problem that was illustrated earlier this month in three separate shootings that left four people dead.

The task force has a plan to curb the violence.

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Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey emerged from his agency’s west precinct along with a local police chief, and Brevard-Seminole State Attorney Phil Archer for the announcement of the new youth gun violence task force.

“The volume of guns that we are seeing out on the street, all of those things are causing us to collectively come together and say, ‘We’re going to put in the resources to try to go after this,‘” Ivey said.

Since January, Melbourne police have answered 94 calls for shots fired and Titusville police have been confiscating guns.

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“If you’re 15, 16, 17 and you’re taking a firearm and killing people, you’re going to be prosecuted as an adult,” Archer said.

The agencies hope to halt the trend through community outreach, the identification of those responsible for illegal activity, the utilization of the county’s game over task force and working closely with prosecutors.

The sheriff said he would be reaching out to faith leaders and organizations who work with youths as part of the community wide effort.

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