SOUTH TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) — A shooting at Governor's Square Mall involving suspects as young as 14 is reigniting a broader conversation about youth gun violence in Tallahassee.
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A 14-year-old, a 15-year-old and an 18-year-old were named as suspects and arrested by the Tallahassee Police Department in connection with the Saturday shooting at the mall.
Their ages have prompted community leaders, pastors and nonprofit organizers to call for more than just an arrest — they want systemic, community-driven solutions.
Life Church International Center Pastor Gregory James, who spent a little more than a decade in the prison system himself, said the community can no longer rely on reactive responses.
"It automatically says something is wrong and there has to be more than an arrest, and so this situation that happened here just triggered my mindset to say, who's taking the time to understand beyond a case there is a human being that needs to be examined, that needs to be questioned. There are other triggers that are being pulled rather than a gun trigger," James said.
James said the responsibility to act falls on the broader community.
"The community must take on the responsibility to do what needs to be done, to help become that mentor, to help become that father, to help become that safe space,” James said.
James said he is done with talk that produces no results.
"We're becoming sounding brass and tinkling cymbals, just noise. And I'm at a place in my life where I really, really, really feel like I don't want to hear the noise anymore. I want to see results." James said.
We Are All We Need CEO and Founder Kevin Warren and Capital Area Justice Ministry Executive Director Bryan Stringer said youth violence has been happening for years.
Stringer said the fact that Saturday's incident occurred at the mall has amplified the conversation.
"It becomes polarized when the ages are 13, 14, 15, but this happens every day,” Warren said. “This happens very often, and I think it just becomes something that we talk about on this magnitude when it happens on the wrong side of I-10.”
Data from the Leon County Sheriff's Office's 2021 "Anatomy of a Homicide" study shows people between 15 and 24 make up the vast majority of both victims and offenders.
"We have to get outside of these silo entities to where we come to a meeting with a solution, looking for a problem. We have to sit down and have solution-driven conversations. Not here just to hear a testimony or hear someone preach a mini-sermon. It's time out for that. While we're figuring it out, our kids are dying," Stringer said.
Warren and Stringer's organizations are responding by holding a community forum to bring people, programs and grassroots efforts together to address the problem directly.
"That's our ultimate goal. The specifics of what our root causes of violence are that this group is looking to solve. This village is looking to solve," Warren said.
The CAJM 360 Forum is scheduled for Tuesday, September 15th at 6:00 p.m. at Bethel AME Church.
The Capital Area Justice Ministry plans to follow up with its United for Peace, Pastors and Police event on October 19th to specifically address gun violence.
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