ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said the city will be implementing “controlled entry” checkpoints into the downtown area this weekend after a Sunday morning shooting left seven people injured.
At a press conference Monday afternoon, Dyer said the checkpoints will be similar to a safety measure implemented during the holidays. The access points will have police dogs and a way to detect weapons, he said.
“Incidents like this cannot and should not happen in our downtown,” the mayor said.
Dyer did not have new information about the police investigation into the shooting but said the victims are in “stable condition.”
Sunday’s shooting took place near Wall Street Plaza and Orange Avenue just after 2 a.m., when bars and clubs in the area were closing.
Regulars of downtown Orlando say that, while seven people being shot in a single incident might be surprising, violence feels commonplace to the area. Johnny Prevatt, who has worked security for multiple downtown bars, says he refuses to go downtown at night anymore because it’s “too sketchy.”
“Downtown has gotten steadily worse in the last 10 years,” Prevatt, 43, said.
He said finding an on-duty officer on a weekend night was often hard when he was working security. “Sadly, I just don’t see OPD doing anything about it,” he said.
At the Pipe & Pouch Smoke Shop just a few doors north of Wall Street, Daniel Vo, 24, said he’s worried the police reaction to the shooting might create more problems.
“As much as I want to say it’s a good thing, I just hope they have a plan of what to do,” he said. “I don’t want to see the situation where the cops outnumber the people. That just creates this huge tension.”
Vo, who moved to Orlando five years ago, wasn’t working when the shooting happened, but he said downtown is more active now than before the pandemic. “It does feel like downtown has gotten more intimidating, especially at night,” he said. “There’s a lot of clashing.”
Morgan Reese, who is homeless and sleeps downtown often, agrees that downtown has gotten busier. He’d like something to keep weapons out of the area. “Wave them with a wand or walk them through a metal detector,” he said.
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Staff writer Natalia Jaramillo contributed to this report.
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