APOPKA, Fla. – Apopka Police arrested an 11-year-old boy after a shooting at a Pop Warner football practice Monday night that left two other boys injured.
On Thursday, police responded to a crash that killed a 7-year-old boy. His mother was taking him to school when the family’s car was hit by a driver speeding away from vehicle burglary, according to police.
Apopka Police Chief Mike McKinley says it is one of the worst weeks he has experienced in the eight years he has spent as chief of police. He sat down one-on-one with News 6 reporter Catherine Silver to discuss the violence and how the community moves forward.
“We’ve spent the morning taking care of our officers and some peer-to-peer counseling,” said Chief McKinley. “They’ve seen all this. They see everything that occurs involving these juveniles and the violence that occurs in communities.”
Chief McKinley calls Monday’s shooting at the Northwest Recreational Center an isolated incident. He does not think there is a growing problem in Apopka, but he says it does point to a bigger problem in society.
“I think as far as Apopka goes; we always have to remember we are just a microcosm of society. We are not immune to what’s going on in other communities around Central Florida or anything else. We are going to see those crimes come to Apopka,” said McKinley.
Apopka Police shared statistics with News 6 that show overall violent crime is down in the city compared to last year. The offenses they are seeing happen more often include auto thefts and burglaries.
“A lot of our juvenile crime involves property crimes, auto burglaries, and things like that,” said Chief McKinley. “Occasionally, you’ll see violence, but I think if you look at what’s going on across the country, juvenile crime is going up again, and our juveniles are becoming more violent.”
There are many factors that can lead to violence among young people. Chief McKinley says it’s critical to understand why children and teens turn to violence, so they can address why it’s happening.
“Easy access to firearms is a problem, and we need to make sure as parents, as a society, they are locked up and they’re away from our youth, but it goes beyond that,” said Chief McKinley. “You know, a firearm is an inanimate object. Somebody has to make a decision to use that. What makes our youth make the decision that a firearm is a solution to their problems?”
“I think we all have to look at where are they learning it from,” said McKinley. “They’re exposed to violence in TV shows. Almost every TV show has violence in it now. Every video game that you watch them on is full of violence. Social media has violence on it. TikTok. All of them.”
McKinley and the Apopka Police Department deal with the effects of a child’s environment and upbringing, as the struggles children face surface at school, in sports, and on our streets. The challenge for the police is accepting the role they play in finding solutions and working to meet the needs of the community they have sworn to protect.
“We are here to help our community and try to be intertwined with our community,” said Chief McKinley. “Law enforcement over the years has gone well past being responsible for things they probably ever should have been responsible for. Because we are here 24 hours a day, seven days a week, we are the ones who get called.”
Often, law enforcement agencies are asked to meet those needs with limited resources.
“Obviously, just like every law enforcement agency throughout the country, we’re struggling with recruiting. Our numbers are down from where they really should be, but we’re working hard to get those numbers up,” said Chief McKinley.
McKinley says he is committed to maintaining a high level of service, while also finding ways to get the resources his department needs to do that.
“To me, it’s important that we continue to respond to calls for service from our community because that is community engagement too, and how we interact with our community and how we assist our community and solve their problems is important to me to make sure we’re providing the resources that they need,” said Chief McKinley.
McKinley says when it comes to addressing issues children face in the community, everyone has a role to play.
“It takes a village to raise the children, and we can’t be everywhere,” said Chief McKinley. “It takes people to report crimes to us. That is one of the only ways we are going to get ahead of some of this stuff.”
His department hopes to get ahead by reaching kids before arresting them through their own programs and through community partners.
“I know there are a lot of programs out there through the churches, through other non-profits, and everything, and our parents need to know where they can gain access,” said Chief McKinley. “A lot of these incidents we have single parents that are trying to raise children.”
Apopka police have established their own efforts to build positive relationships between their officers and children in the community.
Each year, children are taken shopping in December by members of the department for “Shop with a Cop.” They also have an annual “Cops and Bobbers” fishing event that aims to educate children about the outdoors and bridge the gap between law enforcement and the community.
“On average, we do 150 children with our ‘Shop with a Cop,’ which is one of the largest ‘Shop with a Cop’ programs in Central Florida,” said Chief McKinley.
When asked what the chief believes will make the biggest difference in children’s lives, he answered: more involvement from parents.
“How often do we go to sporting events and the parents are in the stands on the phone, not watching their children, not engaged in their activities, at practice sitting in the car not watching their children?” said McKinley. “Just like law enforcement tries to be intertwined with the community, parents have to be directly intertwined in their children’s upbringing.”
Chief McKinley says it was a difficult decision his department had to make this week when they arrested an 11-year-old. He was with his officers as they took that step, a step he feels they had to take because they say the victim’s back was turned and he was walking away when he was shot.
“The arrest of the 11-year-old was a struggle for all of us. We thought about that long and hard,” said Chief McKinley.
Police say the boy grabbed the gun from underneath the passenger seat in his mother’s car. They say it’s possible she will face a misdemeanor charge because the weapon was unsecured.
Chief McKinley says it is also important to support the families involved in this week’s events as the community moves forward.
“We can move past this, and working together we will move past it, and we will become better,” said Chief McKinley.
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