PANAMA CITY — In the wake of a wave of shooting and killing in Panama City, several groups of concerned citizens have joined forces to put out the word that gun violence will not be tolerated.
Between late-May and early-June, five people were killed with guns. Groups of concerned citizens in the Glenwood community, where a majority of the violence has occurred, began to form with hopes of putting an end to the violence before the body-count rises.
“We are all different organizations, working for the same thing with different segments of the population,” said Gregory Dossie, an organizer of the group Stop the Madness. “We are holding a series of events, building up to the Stop the Violence Rally.”
After the first shooting in the series occurred May 24 at a Millville gas station, left 25-year-old Marqueze McGhee and 23-year-old Xavier M. Buckler dead, concerned mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters in the community began discussing strategies to curb all kinds of violence.
Stop the Madness, which focuses on anger management and conflict resolution, scheduled a demonstration before Father’s Day. However, several other shootings followed and derailed the hopes of bringing together a large group of people to demonstrate their discontent.
“We wanted to give time for the authorities to apprehend the responsible parties,” Dossie said. “If we are dealing with warring sides, we couldn’t have members of either side showing up and causing a problem.”
Since May 24, Leonard Price, 38, of Panama City, was shot at close range May 28 in the yard of a Carver Road home. Then Jshun Smith, 19, was shot and killed outside a Panama City nightclub on June 9 apparently after an argument involving the girlfriend of the alleged shooter. And most recently, Samuel McGriff Jr., 17, was shot while standing in an outdoor common area of the Macedonia Gardens Apartment complex on 17th Street June 19.
Stop the Violence has the support of elected officials and law enforcement agencies, who have reached out to the community for information on suspects in the shootings. Organizers said Panama City Police Department, Bay County Sheriff’s Department and Bay District Schools are helping in any way possible.
The respective groups met last Thursday night at the Glenwood Community Center in Panama City to plan a “Stop the Violence” rally event on July 26, to talk about ways to spread conflict resolution methods and begin to take back the community.
Dossie said a starting point would be cutting down the number of convicted felon with firearms in the area.
“We don’t have a dangerous community,” Dossie said. “It’s not an aspect of our community that is dangerous, we have dangerous individuals throughout Bay County. And you have to be aware of what is going on in your neighborhood to combat them.”
A series of demonstrations will occur in July, building toward the main rally.
— July 4: Prayer and Petition Service at St. Johns Missionary Baptist Church at 8 p.m.
- July 5: Panama City Youth Movement at 11 a.m. (location to be determined).
- July 12: Forum at Martin Luther King Jr. Recreational Center at 1 p.m.
- July 26: Walk/Rally at Tommy Oliver Stadium. The group is scheduled to meet at the Glenwood Community Center in Panama City at 8 a.m. The rally begins at 4 p.m.