OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell announced Thursday her office was exploring “initiatives across the country” to help combat local and national attacks against law enforcement and gun violence.
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Worrell did not comment on what specific initiatives and laws her office is looking into at this time.
“We want to look at different initiatives that have taken place around the country that have actually proven to reduce gun violence and those are the things that my team will be exploring here over the upcoming weeks,” Worrell said during the news briefing.
The news conference comes after three shootings involving Orlando officers in May and three mass shootings—including at a supermarket in Buffalo, NY, an elementary school in Uvalde, TX, and at a medical office in Tulsa, OK—throughout the country within the last month.
Worrell addressed each local incident, her briefing coming within a week of a man killed in a shooting involving an officer outside an Olive Garden on Conroy Road in Orlando and about a week after a man exchanged gunfire with officers pursuing a stolen car.
The news conference also comes on the same day Carlos Delano Dafill Roberts Jr., 28, the man who fired at officers attempting to pull him over on May 18, died from his injuries.
“There are few jobs more challenging and dangerous than that of a law enforcement officer... And as a public servant, I find it disturbing that these men and women who have dedicated their lives to public service continue to be the target of violence in our community,” Worrell said. “They too our sons and daughters. They are mothers and fathers. They are husbands and they are wives. Their families should not have to live in constant fear that when their loved one puts on that uniform and goes to work whether or not they will return home alive.”
She added her team wants to aim at ameliorating the tension between the community and law enforcement and hone in on building those relationships.
Worrell also addressed the 19-year-old shot and killed at an Orange County apartment complex Wednesday and the 10-year-old who fatally shot a 31-year-old woman in Orlando.
“As state attorney, I will not tolerate this violence and I will do my part to ensure that perpetrators of gun violence are held accountable,” Worrell said.
Worrell said her team hopes to collect data on national gun violence initiatives and determine and share their course of action “in the coming weeks.”