2 teens shot, killed near playground at Sanford apartment complex

Sanford police are looking for several people after two teenagers were shot and killed at an apartment complex in the middle of the afternoon.

The shooting happened at the Overlook at Monroe Apartments, near Central Florida Regional Hospital.

Officers were at the complex late into the night.

Eyewitness News spotted evidence markers next to a playground.

When investigators arrived, they said a 16-year-old boy and another boy around the same age were lying on the ground near the playground with several gunshot wounds.

Both teens were rushed to a hospital, where they later died.

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“At some point, we have to stop wondering when we’re gonna bury our next child. I didn’t say if, I said when,” Chief Cecil Smith said.

Police believe no one involved in the shooting lives at the apartment complex.

They don’t have a motive at this point, but they said the shootings could be drug related.

Officers said they have a person of interest in custody.

In the past 13 days, at least eight Central Florida children have been hospitalized or killed due to gunfire. Six of them were targeted in a crime.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more Florida teenagers are killed in violent crimes as the years go on, from the average of eight per 100,000 in 2001 to 10 per 100,000 in 2020. The majority are victims of gunfire.