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Suspects sought in pair of Polk County shootings
Josh Cascio reports
LAKE WALES, Fla. - Deputies in Polk County are looking for the gunmen involved in a pair of drive-by shootings early Monday morning in Lake Wales.
At 2:52 a.m. at a home on Laura Street, a 19-year-old woman was shot in the shoulder while she was asleep in her bed.
Bullets hit the bed frame of a home on Laura Street in Lake Wales, where a 19-year-old woman was shot while she was sleeping. (Photo: Polk County Sheriff's Office)
Investigators believe in that case, the suspects were likely targeting her boyfriend in a gang-retaliation shooting.
Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said deputies found 59 shell casings in and around the home, shot by two different firearms. Thirty bullets hit the house, with most aimed toward the bedroom.
Dozens of evidence markers at the scene of a drive-by shooting on Laura Street in Lake Wales. (Photo: Polk County Sheriff's Office)
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Judd said the woman remains hospitalized, but is in good condition.
"It's a blessing she wasn't murdered when you see where all the gunshots were in the bed," he said, holding up a photo of bullet markings in the headboard.
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Polk Sheriff Grady Judd on search for suspects in separate drive-by shootings in Lake Wales
Deputies in Polk County are searching for suspects who unleashed a hail of gunfire on two homes in Lake Wales early Monday morning, with the shootings happening less than 20 minutes apart. Polk Sheriff Grady Judd says investigators believe the drive-by shootings possibly involve rival gangs, but the victims who were shot in the homes were teens or children.
Just 17 minutes after that shooting, another Lake Wales home eight miles away was also shot up at 3:09 a.m.
In this instance, 37 shell casings were found, with 27 bullets striking the house.
Sheriff Judd said a 14-year-old girl was shot in the thigh and buttocks, and a 12-year-old girl was shot in the arm as both children slept. Both were treated and released from the hospital.
Multiple bullet holes in the window and home on Appaloosa Street in Lake Wales, Florida; some of which hit the bed frame and struck two young girls.
Investigators said the family in this home had just moved into the house in the last couple of weeks from Auburndale. Prior to them moving in, the house had been vacant for 7 to 8 months.
The sheriff believes their house was targeted by accident, by shooters intending on going after someone else.
Shooting scene along Appaloosa Street in Lake Wales, Fla.
According to the sheriff's office, a person staying with relatives in the vicinity had been involved in a deadly shooting last summer that had been deemed "justified." Investigators believe the suspects involved in that shooting were likely retaliating against that man — except they targeted the wrong house in the subdivision.
"They didn’t even hit the target's house!" Sheriff Judd said. "They hit these poor innocent people who just moved in from Auburndale."
The sheriff's office is asking for the public's help, saying someone in the community knows something that could help investigators.
Deputies investigate shooting on Laura Street in Lake Wales.
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While detectives don't believe the cases are related, they say they haven't ruled anything out.
Anyone with information is asked to call Heartland Crime Stoppers at 1-800-266-TIPS.