Weekend Pine Hills homicides cause concern, despair, resolve for residents

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Two people were shot and killed Saturday night outside an Orange County nightclub, but by Sunday afternoon, a family was holding a birthday party near the crime scene.

“No tragedy should stop the smile on a kid’s face, so I just kept going,” said mother Laquitta Luckett.

Crime scene tape was still up in the shopping center where Orange County deputies said someone killed Juan Carlos Ilarraza, 26, and another man, later identified as Akeyl Dennis, 33, outside the Caribbean Unity Club around 3 a.m. Saturday.

Eight hours later, and about a half-mile away, a 22-year-old black man was shot and killed following an argument Saturday at the Royal Place Apartments, deputies said.

That man has been identified as Charles Daymon. The shooter has not been arrested, deputies said.

Luckett told Channel 9's Cuthbert Langley that she heard about the double-homicide, but said she already planned to throw her child's second birthday party next door.

Luckett said she held the party, not for her sake, but for the sake of the young children.

“It just takes their mind off the negativity, and keeps them moving. So tomorrow when they go to school, they’ll be happy and won’t even think about what happened Saturday,” said Luckett.

Resident James Walker moved to Pine Hills about a year ago and in that time 15 people had been killed.

"It's just ridiculous," he said. "Seriously."

Unlike some others who have hope for the neighborhood, Walker was planning to move out.

"It's like this: Anybody can be killed at any minute, and my fiancée and I are trying our best to get the hell out of here," he said.

While he wasn't planning on going anywhere, resident Ralph Delosantos had resigned himself to the situation in Pine Hills.

"That's just how it is here," he said. "You just have to deal with it."

A mobile command unit that had been in the area following a rash of violence a few months ago left the neighborhood late last week, Channel 9 learned.

While some residents, like Walker, say the violence in Pine Hills is getting worse, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said the number of murders in 2017 is down from this time last year.

Regardless, resident Patricia Coleman said her family is not comfortable with her living in Pine Hills.

"It's scary around here," Coleman said. "My daughter is scared for me too. She told me I need to move."

Cox Media Group