Dade's most dangerous ZIP for teens
Miami Herald, The (FL)
August 12, 2007
The deadliest ZIP Code for teenagers in Miami-Dade County is a place where boys play ball on the street, other children ride their bikes up and down sidewalks, and teenagers congregate on the neighborhood wall.
The placid scene belies the tragic reality of ZIP Code 33054, which includes parts of Opa-locka and Miami Gardens. A review of five years of statistics from the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner's Office shows a higher rate of gunshot deaths among children 17 and younger in this area than in any other part of the county.
The ZIP Code is bordered by Northwest 167th Avenue to the north, Northwest 119th Street to the south, and West Fourth Avenue in Hialeah to Northwest 17th Avenue, west to east. The tragic incidents of teen violence are part of a broader story in the larger Miami-Dade communities, long plagued by violence. In one week in July, the county medical examiner's office had five homicide victims from Miami Gardens alone, including a 19-year-old man gunned down in a double homicide.
One in 10 homicide victims in Miami-Dade are teenagers, said Larry Cameron, a spokesman with the office. There were 258 homicides in Miami-Dade County last year. Cameron said current homicide trends suggest that Miami-Dade could end the year with almost as many. "Twenty-six of them will be teenagers," Cameron predicted. "Almost all of them will be gunshots."
Founded in 2003, Miami Gardens is only 22 square miles. The young city acknowledges its problems, and Miami Gardens Mayor Shirley Gibson, a former Miami-Dade police officer, says the city is trying to implement programs to help youths in the community.
"We are working on interaction, bringing people together. We are trying to link hands between adults and teens," Gibson said. "It's not just a children problem, a youth problem. It's an adult problem."
Adding to the concern is the recent number of high-profile shootings, especially in the Miami Gardens area.
In June, Darnarius Green, 16, was shot and killed. His crumpled body was left in Bunche Park on the Miami Gardens side of 33054. Darnarius reportedly had played high school football and was trying to escape his troubled youth by moving to a high school in a statistically safer district.
On Aug. 6, 2006, 17-year-old Otissha Burnett was shot to death at a party in the 1500 block of Northwest 31st Avenue on the Miami Gardens side. Today the nondescript home where Otissha died shows no signs of violence. Its lawn is well groomed and full of cars.
Miami Gardens (a war zone???) (Hialeah, Carol City: high crime, credit, houses) - Broward County - Page 2 - City-Data Forum