Police Cracking Down On Crime In Liberty City Following Recent Rash Of Shooting Deaths
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – More than 30 Miami police officers mustered in the Liberty Square housing project Wednesday afternoon in what has been a 24 hour a day, seven days a week enforcement effort, joining up with county police and multiple other agencies to combat violent crime in a neighborhood notorious for it.
The "enough is enough" moment, however, came Easter Sunday, when four-year-old Nyla Jones was shot dead as she sat in a car in front of her home.
Police say she was not the intended target of her uncle, Ronald Jones, Jr.
The very next Sunday, 18-year-old Ricky Dixon and 17-year-old Kimson Green - who was about to join the National Honor Society - were shot dead in a hail of drive by bullets. The community took to the streets demanding action and got it.
City and county police now are saturating Liberty Square and the surrounding area, along with the Florida Highway Patrol.
In two weeks they have seized nearly two dozen firearms, made scores of arrests for gun possession, drug dealing and even a murder collar. A phalanx of local, state and federal law enforcers Wednesday vowed they are in it for the long haul.
"We are still committed. This wasn't an 'oh, we are going to react at the moment and then it's over.' That's not the case at all. As you can see, we're all extremely committed," said Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina at a morning news conference.
In Liberty Square residents welcomed the police power.
"My son got killed right here on my porch," said Isadora Redmon Wednesday as she looked at a police command post that has been in place since the early April murders.
Her son, Andrew, was killed in a spray of drive by shots of in April of last year.
Of the huge police presence in the area now she said, "It's about time, and I tell them every day, please don't leave."
Law enforcement agencies say they are not going anywhere, that a joint effort, if anything, will increase.
"We will not cede one neighborhood, one block, one street corner to people who are bent on violent crime," United States Attorney Ben Greenberg said at the news conference. They were reassuring words to a neighborhood seemingly ceded to violent crime a long time ago.
Law enforcement agency heads Wednesday promised, in addition to more cops in the community, more recreation programs and early intervention efforts for at risk youth will be developed.
When the two teens were killed April 9th, Northwestern High School students staged a march, promising an "enough is enough"-type movement against inner city violence, similar to the one created after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre.
If the response in Liberty Square is any indication, the movement seems to be working.
