SANFORD, Fla. – Three days after a 60-year-old man was shot in Sanford’s Goldsboro neighborhood, investigators say they are still working to determine exactly what happened — and who is the victim or the suspect.
Neighbor sounded alarm
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The first call for help didn’t come from the injured man — it came from a neighbor.
A nearby resident called 911 after another neighbor knocked on their door to report that someone had been shot near a home at West 14th Street and Bell Avenue.
“My neighbor just came,” the caller told dispatchers. “Somebody got shot. It just happened because we heard some pops.”
The caller said they had been inside making music with a family member when the sounds of gunfire erupted nearby.
“I don’t know what happened,” the caller told dispatchers. “My neighbor came over and he told me someone got shot.”
What the police report reveals
A Sanford Police Department incident report obtained by News 6 shows officers arrived at approximately 2:59 p.m. July 11 and found the man seated in a chair in the northwest corner of a residential yard with a gunshot wound to his right leg. He was transported to a local hospital.
A witness at the scene provided a sworn statement saying an unknown male had been called over to the residence shortly before the shooting. According to the report, the unknown male entered the yard and a confrontation occurred before shots were fired. Officers located shell casings nearby.
‘It’s scary. It really is.’
The shooting happened less than a mile from Sanford Middle School, Goldsboro Elementary and the Sanford Police Department’s own headquarters.
For neighbor Adriana Coyle, it was a jarring and all-too-familiar scene.
“It’s scary. It really is,” Coyle said.
When Coyle returned home Saturday afternoon, the street was already packed with police cruisers, an ambulance and a fire truck.
“It’s sad. It’s heartbreaking,” she said. “We don’t really know what’s going on with the victim. We don’t know if they have a suspect. Nobody is really telling us any information.”
Coyle said gun violence is not new to the neighborhood — and it’s pushing her to consider leaving.
“It makes me want to look into possibly moving and finding a new rental to get into,” she said. “The gunshots — that’s not anything new in this neighborhood. People go outside and they shoot their guns in the air on the regular over here and it’s scary because you know what goes up must come down.”
She said the ongoing threat makes it especially difficult for families with children.
“You never know where they’re shooting from,” Coyle said. “It’s very hard to get outside or be outside with the kids when the neighborhood has always been like that.”
Investigation ongoing, condition improved
As of Tuesday, the man who was shot remains hospitalized but is no longer in critical condition, according to Sanford Police.
Investigators say they are still working to piece together the full circumstances of the shooting, including who was the victim and who was the suspect.
“Part of the ongoing investigation is determining what exactly occurred and who is the victim and/or suspect,” Sanford Police said in an email to News 6. “That has not been determined.”