SANFORD, Fla. — People around Sanford’s Goldsboro community said they’re scared to talk to the city’s police department after a mass shooting sent six people to the hospital.
According to an incident report, multiple witnesses to the mass shooting at Coastline Park on Saturday refused to discuss the events with police officers who responded to the scene. Police Chief Cecil Smith said they need the public’s help to make arrests.
“People know what took place,” he said to reporters without taking questions. “People know who these shooters are. People need to be more involved.
Multiple people Channel 9 spoke with around the historically black neighborhood said they don’t trust the Sanford Police Department and are scared they’ll face retaliation for speaking to law enforcement or for speaking badly against law enforcement.
Star Lawrence, who lives in Goldsboro, said people are scared to speak to police because they fear retaliation and don’t trust police. She said the distrust stems from the way the department polices the area, which she described as strict enforcement of minor laws not usually seen in other areas of the city.
“We don’t get the same respect as they do on Sandord Avenue,” Lawrence said. “You don’t see them harassing people on Sanford Avenue. You see them harassing people here on Goldsboro Boulevard.”
She said their needs to be “respect” on both sides to create community support to solve crimes.
Fritz Voltaire, who works at a nonprofit drug and mental health treatment nonprofit called Recovery House of Central Florida, said he believes the police department is making a lot of efforts to engage the community including community meetings. But, he said there’s clearly an issue when the number of law enforcement officers attending these meetings is more than number of residents.
Voltaire also said he believes people are simply scared to speak out.
“One misjudgment, and I have to be careful myself because, one miss word and a gathering becomes a shooting range,” he said. “…The war zone is Goldsboro.”
City records have continually identified the area as a public safety risk, most recently in the 2024-2025 budget cycle. The city of Sanford described the neighborhood’s public safety issues more in depth in a 2018 report Channel 9 found posted on the city’s website.
“The Goldsboro community has higher than average crime rates when compared to the City of Sanford as a whole,” said the report. “Across the spectrum of criminal offenses – from rare crimes to common crimes and from the most violent crimes to the least common crimes – the Goldsboro community stands out as challenged by public safety issues.”
The report said 8 of the 17 documented murders within the city from 2013 to 2016 occurred in the Goldsboro community.
Sanford Mayor Art Woodruff said the city conducts neighborhood meetings, mentoring programs, youth program and has an involved police department to improve the area’s safety.
“I think they have been effective and I don’t think we are constantly acknowledging there’s a public safety issue there,” he said to Channel 9 on Monday.
Woodruff also said the city’s worked on getting people in the area to talk with police on cases, which he said has improved over the years.
At the same time, a nonprofit announced it is preparing to launch a program in which people will monitor public spaces, inspired by the community-patrol concept made nationally known by the Guardian Angels.
The group said it will recruit people to wear clearly identifiable shirts and maintain a visible presence in places like around schools, parks, community centers, and walking trails. It said these people will not have law enforcement authority, meaning they won’t make arrests, enforce laws, or handle emergencies; rather, they will watch and listen for concerns involving young people and residents, and help connect people with community resources.
The Youth Peace and Justice Foundation, which is the nonprofit organizing the effort, said its goal is not to replace law enforcement or suggest that a volunteer patrol can solve the city’s violence problems, but to make people become part of the solution.
“We’re coming because communities need people who are willing to show up, pay attention and be part of the solution,” said Daniel Brooks Chapin, Founder and President of the Youth Peace and Justice Foundation. “We’re not here to point fingers at Sanford. We’re here because people are hurting and because there is a need for prevention.”
Channel 9 reached out to the Sanford Police Department earlier Tuesday morning with questions and we’re still waiting to hear back at this time.
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