NEWS

Community holds vigil for victims of homicide in Dunbar, pray for unity

MELISSA MONTOYA
MMONTOYA@NEWS-PRESS.COM
Scenes from a community prayer service Thursday at the Dunbar Community School in Fort Myers. More than 150 people attended the vigil held in remembrance of Fort Myers homicide victims.

Change will come to Dunbar through faith and unity.

That was the main message during the city's 7th annual Community Prayer Service Thursday night when an auditorium full of people gathered to praise community leaders, law enforcement and hold vigil by victims of homicides — both solved and unsolved.

The community vigil comes at a precarious moment for Fort Myers. An audit report released Wednesday highlights the problems within the Fort Myers Police Department — favoritism, lack of experienced leadership and dwindling resources to solve homicides.

"It's devastating," said Angela McClary.

Her son Deonte Redding and his half-brother, Zachary Blue, were gunned down in a vehicle on South Drive in Fort Myers in 2014. The case remains unsolved.

McClary said she will continue to pressure police for answers and she hopes other parents will too.

"They know me down there," she said.

Nelayda Fonte, a surgeon who was working during the Club Blu shooting in July, delivered a sobering speech to the audience. She's worked at the trauma center for 21 years.

"I know these faces," she said gesturing to the portraits of victims.

"You bore your children and brought them to life, but I work really hard to keep them alive," Fonte said.

"It's everyone's obligation to keep it from happening," Fonte said. "Wouldn't it be great to never do this again?"

There are changes that have taken place since Chief Derrick Diggs took over the police department. A gang suppression unit patrols the streets now. He's touted it as making a difference.

Surviving Dunbar Series: A dream that tastes like BBQ

It's been 62 days since Fort Myers' last homicide took place on Christmas Day. Diggs did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

More notably, no one has been gunned down or killed on a city street in 2017. The Lee County Sheriff's Office has investigated three homicides so far this year.

Twenty-one-year-old Juan Gabriel Maldonado-Sepulveda was killed on Nottingham Drive on Christmas Day. Police arrested Raul Muniz-Cobbruvias, 23, who remains in Lee County Jail on second-degree murder charges for the death.

Prior to that, the city went 80 days without a homicide last year.

Patricia Sepulveda, left, and Dora Olvera weep during a community prayer service Thursday at the Dunbar Community School in Fort Myers. Both mothers had sons that were murdered in 2016. More than 150 people attended the vigil held in remembrance of Fort Myers homicide victims.

 

Trish Routte, Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers coordinator, said maybe change is coming to Fort Myers.

"We hope as we always have that spirit of change and faith has started to resonate with people," Routte said.

McClary said she hopes detectives will look over the case files in her son and his brother's murder.

"I want them to revisit the old evidence because there may be a new possibility that with a new set of eyes that they could see something," McClary said. "Because they were overwhelmed at the time my suggestion is for them to revisit those cases that have gone cold."

Police officers don't like to talk about the lack of homicides in the city for fear that the streak could be broken. They shrink away from the question.

"I'm not talking about that," said Fort Myers police Capt. Willie Dennard, who shared the story of his own brother being killed during his speech with the audience.

"These families sill have to survive this with their loved ones murdered," Dennard said. "This is to honor these families so they can begin to heal."