by Beth Kassab | Jul 3, 2026 | City Commission, News, Police and Public Safety
Safety Rules for Electric Bikes and Scooters Vetoed by Gov. Ron DeSantis
Improving safety regulations, especially near schools, is a priority in cities like Winter Park where officials have already begun drafting their own ordinance
July 3, 2026
By Gabrielle Russon
Some local officials expressed surprise and frustration after Gov. Ron DeSantis recently vetoed a bipartisan bill considered an important step in tackling the epidemic of electric bike and scooter crashes.
DeSantis’ decision came less than two months after a 13-year-old boy was killed in Orlando’s Lake Nona area while riding his e-scooter to buy Mother’s Day flowers.
Without a statewide safety law, rules will fall to local governments like Winter Park, which has already begun drafting an ordinance that city officials say they want in place before the start of the school year in August.
Roads near schools are of particular concern to local officials because so many students use e-bikes and e-scooters on a daily basis.
“We know they’re dangerous. We know they’re killing students. And so I’m not sure why we needed to delay taking any action knowing how dangerous they are. … All of us were hoping that we would get some guidance from the state,” said Orange County School Board Member Stephanie Vanos, who represents Winter Park. “It just doesn’t seem like the governor cares all that much about what’s happening to our kids.”
School Board members are scheduled to discuss what to do next at a Tuesday work session.
Senate Bill 382 won unanimous approval from the Legislature in March, but DeSantis has expressed concerns it could lead to more police surveillance and bring unintended consequences.
“What it will lead to is more surveillance of people by law enforcement and we don’t need that. I think there were problems with it,” DeSantis said when he spoke to journalists late last month during a press conference. “Certainly, I don’t want to do anything that’s going to lead to more surveillance.”
Winter Park City Commissioner Warren Lindsey said he would prefer cities draft the new regulations for their specific needs instead of the state imposing one set of rules for all of its 23 million people.
“My opinion is that it’s better to regulate that by local ordinance rather than state statute,” Lindsey said. “In a time when you’ve got preemption, where the state’s taken away local governments’ ability to regulate anything, this one is good because what works in Winter Park may not work in Maitland. What works in Winter Park may not work in Orlando or Ocoee so I’m in favor of local ordinance.”
Winter Park is developing an e-bike and e-scooter ordinance with the goal of rolling it out before school starts on Aug. 11, said Lindsey, who was the only city commissioner who responded to an interview request for this story.
Some of the potential regulations could include setting a speed limit for e-scooters and e-bikes on sidewalks, increasing the helmet age requirement from 16 to 18 years old and imposing fines for those who break the rules.
Winter Park Commissioner Craig Russell, who is also a teacher at Winter Park High, held a community meeting about e-bike safety earlier this year and has advocated for a local ordinance. School Board member Stephanie Vanos (third from left) sat on the panel.
Lindsey, whose day job is a criminal defense lawyer, called e-bikes and e-scooters “definitely a public safety issue.” However, he said he is mindful that minors don’t end up with traffic records as the city drafts a policy.
“The purpose of the proposed regulations are not intended in any way to be punitive to children but rather to be educational and to protect them because they’re inexperienced and to educate them on proper and safe operation of e-bikes and scooters,” he said.
In 2025, nearly 500 e-bike and e-scooter crashes were reported in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties, according to MetroPlan, Central Florida’s regional transportation planning organization.
MetroPlan is focused on working with local governments, like Winter Park, to lower those statistics.
“We were expecting for some action to be taken at the state level, but I would say that the fact that it didn’t pass isn’t significantly changing how we were planning to proceed as an agency for metropolitan Orlando,” said Lara Bouck, MetroPlan project development manager.
The group is considering whether to draft a model ordinance to help local governments. Bouck said she hopes a Winter Park representative joins a working group expected to take on that task.
“The intent there is to give each of our municipalities, including Winter Park, a starting point that they can sort of pivot off of if they’re going to adopt their own ordinances, which I think will be a priority now that nothing passed at the state level,” Bouck said.
MetroPlan also launched a pilot program offering a free rider safety online course for parents at selected schools.
If DeSantis had signed SB 382 into law it would have required all law enforcement agencies across Florida to document micromobility device crashes the same way and record crash date, time and rider’s age or if the rider has a valid Florida learner’s driver license or regular license as well as other information.
The challenge is law enforcement agencies currently don’t report crashes in a uniform way, making it hard to understand the big picture.
Another provision in the bill would have allowed police to write $30 nonmoving traffic violations if an e-bike goes faster than 10 mph within 50 feet of pedestrians.
“I understand law enforcement has a job,” DeSantis said. “Do we really want to have policing of e-bikes? Are you going 10 miles or eight miles? I think it was a little bit of overreach.”
The bill would also have created a statewide task force to propose recommendations by Oct. 1 how to regulate “micromobility devices” like e-scooters and e-bikes.
Vanos acknowledged the bill wasn’t “perfect” but said it was “moving us in the right direction.”
She testified in Tallahassee during the Legislative Session to urge lawmakers to give schools representation on the task force.
Both Vanos and Orange County Commissioner Kelly Martinez Semrad, who represents Winter Park, said improving safety also means addressing bigger infrastructure challenges in communities.
“Devices that can reach higher sustained speeds are increasingly being operated in mixed-use environments—roads, sidewalks, and multi-use trails—without consistent rules, training requirements, or clear expectations for right-of-way behavior,” Martinez Semrad wrote on social media Thursday. “The result is a preventable risk environment: faster vehicles, denser shared spaces, and no modernized regulatory framework to govern how they interact.”
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by Beth Kassab | Jul 3, 2026 | City Commission, Environment, News, Police and Public Safety
Gov. Ron DeSantis Vetoes Winter Park Police Request but Allows Mead Garden Project
Sen. Jason Brodeur said the decisions follow the governor’s preference for regional impact over budget items that he may view as favoring one city
July 3, 2026
By Gabrielle Russon
The city of Winter Park scored an environmental victory and took a public safety hit as Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the new $117.6 billion state budget this week.
DeSantis vetoed $62,500 for Winter Park Police to buy more security barriers to protect crowds at outdoor public events. Meanwhile, $500,000 escaped DeSantis’ veto pen to fund a water clean-up project at Mead Garden that will leave an impact on the greater region’s environment.
“We were disappointed to learn the city’s Police Department Vehicle Threat Mitigation project was included as one of the $1.7 billion projects vetoed by the Governor,” Winter Park Mayor Sheila DeCiccio said in a statement. “We are, however, grateful for the approval of the Mead Garden Regional Nutrient Reduction grant that remained funded at $500,000. This grant will meaningfully support the city’s efforts to regionally improve water quality throughout the interconnected lake systems of Winter Park and Maitland, benefiting both Orange and Seminole counties.”
State Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, who sponsored both funding requests on the Senate side, elaborated why he thought the Governor vetoed the $62,500.
“I’m disappointed for the community, but I think it speaks to the Governor’s focus on truly regional needs over a request by a single municipality, favoring projects that benefit multiple municipalities, like a watershed project. It’s not always the case but that is what was portrayed to me,” Brodeur said in a statement.
Last year, Winter Park Police previously received $62,500 from the state and bought security barriers — a trailer with eight barriers and a gate — that will protect Watermelon 5K runners and Fourth of July event-goers this weekend.
Winter Park Police Chief Tim Volkerson said he had been hopeful to receive the same amount of money this year to buy more barricades.
“We will continue to seek alternative funding opportunities to acquire equipment to enhance community safety for our public events,” Volkerson said in a statement. “This is a continuous process as technology and the landscape of public safety evolves.
Barriers purchased by Winter Park Police last year help protect pedestrians and businesses along Park Avenue during special events. (Photo courtesy of Winter Park Police)
Winter Park City Commissioner Warren Lindsey shared the same sentiment that he was dismayed about the police funding veto.
“It was a very practical and necessary security protection that would really benefit thousands of citizens, not just Winter Park citizens, but citizens throughout Central Florida that attend different concerts and events around and in Central Park,’ Lindsey said in an interview. “Anything that we can do to enhance their protection is just a win for everybody and it helps provide peace of mind.”
Lindsey also said he was thankful DeSantis did not axe the $500,000 to filter excessive nutrients from Alice’s Pond in Mead Garden.
“It’s really one of our crown jewels of Winter Park,’ Lindsey said of Mead Garden.
He thanked Brodeur and state Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, who had sponsored the funding in a bipartisan effort.
DeSantis vetoed about half of Eskamani’s projects, according to Eskamani, who is often a fierce critic of the governor.
Eskamani said she was grateful the Mead Garden funding survived, calling it a crucial non-partisan issue to protect the environment. She had also been optimistic it would advance because DeSantis himself has campaigned on water quality through his term, she said.
“This is going to be a really important investment,” Eskamani said. “All of our bodies of water are interconnected, and when we’re able to create improvements with one of these major parks, it absolutely will impact the entire community.”
Ahead of the DeSantis vetoes, the Florida TaxWatch criticized state lawmakers for sponsoring $380 million worth of water projects in the state budget which the group dubbed as “budget turkeys” in its annual report. The group said its opposition wasn’t targeting the value of the water projects but the budget process itself since the lawmakers-supported projects circumvented a formal, competitive review.
When asked about Florida TaxWatch’s criticism, Eskamani said, “I definitely think there can always be more transparency in the state budget.”
She added, “With that said, water projects tend to be some of the most important projects with a lot of merit” and argued Florida needs more grants for inland communities to clean up their lakes and rivers.
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by Beth Kassab | Jun 17, 2026 | City Commission, News, Police and Public Safety, Taxes
Early Retirements at City Hall. Plus Winter Park Nine to Reopen and Micromobility Ordinance in the Works
The cost cutting has already started ahead of budget talks next month. Meanwhile, the city has almost finished work on the new greens at the WP9 and new rules for electric bikes and scooters are in the works
June 17, 2026
By Beth Kassab
As talk of budget cuts swirl around local governments amid intensifying debate over the property tax amendment that will appear on the November ballot, five employees of the city of Winter Park have taken an early retirement package.
The packages, offered, as part of a cost-cutting effort, will reduce the City Hall headcount to 533.
Rene Cranis
The most high-profile, so far, is City Clerk Rene Cranis, who is well-known for her work managing city elections, city records and helping to run and document public meetings among other duties.
She has served Winter Park for three decades and has been active with the Florida Association of City Clerks.
Last month, the City Commission appointed Deputy Clerk Kim Breland, who was hired by Winter Park in 2017, to the lead role once Cranis retires at the end of June.
City spokeswoman Clarissa Howard said a cost savings figure from the five retirements will be evaluated as the city begins its annual budget process next month.
David Zusi, director of the city’s water and wastewater utility, recently retired, but his departure was already planned after 29 years of service. Commissioners recognized his dedication and contributions to maintaining the city’s water system during a May proclamation for “David Zusi Day.” Jason Riegler was appointed to take over the water utility for the city.
Winter Park Nine to Reopen
A photo courtesy of the city of Winter Park shows work underway at the Winter Park Nine.
City Manager Randy Knight said the Winter Park Nine is slated to reopen next month after the wrong chemical damaged seven of nine greens.
The city spent about $100,000 to redo all nine greens plus the putting green near Casa Feliz. Each of the greens were tilled to remove the dead grass, reshaped and then sprigged with Tif-Eagle Bermuda Grass, Howard said.
She said the new grass is of a higher quality than was used during the last renovation of the course.
The city is also trying out a new maintenance company to care for the courses. Knight said the cost of up to $197,000 for four months is about equal to the cost of doing the work in-house. He said the cost — about $50,000 per month — covers salaries for a seven-day maintenance operation, fuel, equipment repairs and maintenance, fertilization and pesticides.
Changes for E-Bikes and Scooters
City Commissioner Craig Russell is urging his colleagues on the City Commission to move forward quickly with new rules for riders of electric bikes and scooters in the wake of the death of a 13-year-old boy in Lake Nona who was hit by a truck on his e-bike on Mother’s Day last month.
Russell has pushed education and safety related to the devices in the past and held a community meeting on the topic earlier this year.
Commissioner Craig Russell leads a community meeting about electric bike and scooter safety earlier this year.
He wants to see new rules on the books for police to enforce.
“My interest is to have something before the start of the school year in August,” Russell said at a recent meeting.
Other commissioners agreed and said they would consider a new ordinance this summer even though Orange County’s ordinance is not yet done.
Howard said the city attorney is still working on the draft ordinance, but some potential changes could include:
- Increasing the age of riders who are required to wear helmets from 16 to 18.
- Establishing a speed limit for electric scooters and bikes on sidewalks, which would be more restrictive than the state law that requires a speed limit of 10 miles per hour only within 50 feet of a pedestrian.
- Keeping the prohibition of the devices from the Central Business District such as Park Avenue, New England Avenue and Orange Avenue.
- Starting a new system of city-based fines (similar to a parking ticket) for violations of the ordinance. This came in response from discussion among city commission members who want to be able to enforce the rules, but protect minors from infractions that could remain on their records.
- The potential to impound scooters and bikes as a result of violations to the ordinance.
A draft of the proposed changes is likely to be considered by the City Commission in the coming weeks.
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by Beth Kassab | May 29, 2026 | City Commission, News, Police and Public Safety, Taxes
Downtown Security Barriers and Mead Gardens Pond Cleanup Land in State Budget
Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he expects to veto a number of projects but local lawmakers argue the money for two Winter Park line items should be spared
May 30, 2026
By Gabrielle Russon
The city of Winter Park is slated to get state money to help clean up Central Florida’s waterways and beef up security for public outdoor events as the Legislature approved the 2026-27 budget Friday.
State lawmakers passed a $114.5 billion spending plan that provides $500,000 for a Mead Gardens water project and $62,500 for Winter Park Police road barriers to keep vehicles from driving into crowds at festivals and other events.
Lawmakers inserted the pair of Winter Park projects into the state budget after they met behind closed doors this month to negotiate spending on everything from school funding, law enforcement and members’ pet projects during a special session this month.
The Legislature had failed to approve a budget — their only constitutional required job — during the 60-day regular session that ended in March.
Even though the Legislature approved the budget Friday, the money is not official for Winter Park until it survives Gov. Ron DeSantis’ veto pen.
DeSantis has been clear he wants to trim spending.
“It’s probably a safe assumption that when I’m done with my veto pen that it’ll be less than the current year budget,” DeSantis said this week about the next fiscal year starting July 1.
DeSantis also is open about how he weaponizes his veto power to punish lawmakers who don’t support his agenda.
“If the members are supporting good policy, then, you know, I see their budget items, that’s just something you take into account,” DeSantis said earlier this month at The Federalist Society.
Winter Park officials declined to comment for this story as they await DeSantis’ spending decisions, but the state lawmakers who advocated for the Winter Park project spoke to The Voice about why they feel the money is important.
Mead Gardens Pond Flows to Chain of Lakes
State lawmakers want to tackle cleaning up waterways by lowering nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus that cause algae booms and destroy biodiversity.
In the state budget, Winter Park would receive $500,000 to filter the excessive nutrients from Alice’s Pond in Mead Gardens as the Loch Haven Chain of Lakes flows into the Winter Park Chain of Lakes.
The funding request is a bipartisan effort from an influential Republican, state Sen. Jason Brodeur, and Democrat state Rep. Anna Eskamani. The two have a history of collaborating on water projects even though they are on opposite ends of the political spectrum.
“The Winter Park Chain of Lakes, its health impacts the health of all lakes in Central Florida,” Eskamani said.
Their project seeks to improve water quality throughout the interconnected lake systems of Winter Park and Maitland which are the headwaters to Lake Jesup and the St. Johns River, Florida’s longest river.
“People live on these water bodies and they’ve been there long enough to remember when it was actually a place you might actually want to swim or boat,” said Brodeur who grew up on Lake Jesup. “It gets gross because it gets overgrown with weeds and things that don’t belong there because the balance is out of whack with its nutrient load.”
Central Florida’s waterways play a big role in Florida’s ecosystem since three of the water management districts come together, Brodeur said.
“If a drop of rain falls somewhere in Central Florida, it could end up in Fort Myers, it could end up in the Everglades, it could end up in Jacksonville,” Brodeur said.
Keeping the waters clean is important to support local businesses and tourism because of a long list of water recreational activities, such as paddle boarding, rowing and boating, Eskamani added.
Street Barriers Would Help Protect Outdoor Crowds
Last year the city of Winter Park received $62,500 for the road barriers and now an additional $62,500 is included in the 2026-27 budget.
In the state House, Rep. David Smith sought the money both times even though Winter Park isn’t even in his district — Smith lives in Seminole County.
“One of the reasons that I supported the appropriation request not only last year but this year is, the city of Winter Park hosts a lot of street festivals,” Smith said. “So if we’re going to spend state money to protect pedestrians against a potential attack, that’s a legitimate use of state tax dollars.”
Each spring tens of thousands of people attend the three-day Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival. Other popular events include charity runs down Park Avenue, beloved parades and more.
“Who doesn’t love the Winter Park Arts Festival?” said Brodeur, who handled the local funding request in the upper chamber. “We got people from all five surrounding counties driving in. We want to make sure they’re safe for events like that.”
Brodeur called the police barriers an important investment in the context of the region’s tourism industry.
“Very frequently people have the mindset, or at least local municipalities have the mindset that ‘We want this really cool toy, we’ll just ask the state for it,’” Brodeur said. “The state funding should be state taxpayers paying for something of regional interest. Now because Winter Park has so many events that draw so many from all over Central Florida and the whole state, this is a safety issue of regional interest.”
As he talked about the water clean up and police barriers, Brodeur also revived an argument that’s been debated in Central Florida for years. Should taxpayer money fund these projects? Or should tourists foot those bills with revenue from Orange County’s hotel tax?
“Should we expand what we can spend tourist development tax on? If the tourists that we’re bringing in and doing all these things for are the ones that are lining the coffers, shouldn’t we be doing more things for our residents besides expanding the convention center?” Brodeur said.
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by Beth Kassab | Mar 30, 2026 | County News, News, Police and Public Safety, Schools
New Law Could Require New Fines and Data Collection on Electric Bikes and Scooters
Lawmakers approved the measure earlier this month and it is awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature. Locals hope the changes are a first step toward better safety.
March 30, 2026
By Gabrielle Russon
Local officials concerned about electric bike and scooter crashes and near-misses in Winter Park said a new bill is moving in the right direction to improve safety.
The Legislature unanimously passed Senate Bill 382 this month. The bill is awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature in order to become a law and go into effect.
State lawmakers said the bill is necessary following a series of crashes across the state that killed young people.
“While nothing can undo the tragedies that brought us here, I believe some good will come out of this,” said state Rep. Yvette Benarroch, R-Marco Island, fighting back emotion on the House floor before the final vote on March 9. Benarroch had sponsored the House companion bill.
SB 382 would set in motion a statewide task force to create recommendations by Oct. 1 related to how to regulate “micromobility devices” like e-scooters and e-bikes that travel slower than cars but faster than pedal bikes. The task force would report back to DeSantis, Florida Senate President Ben Albritton and Florida House Speaker Danny Perez.
Orange County School Board Member Stephanie Vanos, who represents Winter Park in District 6, called the bill “a good first step” but added one concern is the task force is missing school leaders’ voice.
Vanos had urged lawmakers to pick an educator to join the task force since so many e-bike and e-scooter users are children to and from school.
“This is an issue really affecting the schools the most,” Vanos said.
But lawmakers ignored her request after she testified in Tallahassee during the 60-day legislative session.
The members of the task force will instead include representatives from the Florida Sheriffs Association, the Florida Police Chiefs Association, Florida League of Cities, Florida Association of Counties, someone from the medical field with experience treating pedestrian injuries and a representative from an organization focused on rider safety.
Vanos said she hopes the task force recommends how to better educate young riders, which she called an essential element for improving safety.
Children currently are not required to go through rider safety training and don’t need any certification or permit to use an e-bike or e-scooter. Some as young as elementary or middle school are driving them.
One provision in SB 382 had been stripped out from the final bill version that would have required a valid learner’s drive license or driver license for anyone to ride a Class 3 e-bike, which goes up to 28 mph.
Orange school officials discussing that issue had raised concerns about how schools would know if student e-bike riders had the right credentials and also brought them to school every day, Vanos said.
Orange County government is scheduled to discuss e-bike safety at a May 19 work session and has been working with the school district, Vanos added.
Vanos also hopes the state task force tackles recommendations for making infrastructure improvements, like wider sidewalks so riders and walkers have more room to co-exist.
Under the bill, Winter Park Police Department would be required to start documenting e-bike and e-scooter crashes to help the state officials better understand the scope of the problem.
Currently, law enforcement agencies report the crashes differently, making it difficult to get uniform statistics statewide.
All local police departments and sheriff’s offices around the state, as well as the Florida Highway Patrol, would need to report each crash’s date, time, the micromobility device rider’s age, if he or she had a valid Florida learner’s driver license or regular license and more.
Vanos praised the bill for trying to collect more data.
“That’s a really good first place to start,” Vanos said. “What do the accidents look like? Where are they? What are the ages of the children? What time of day? … What type of micromobility device are we seeing the most accidents on? I do think that those are important things.”
Finally, the bill would also allow police to issue $30 nonmoving traffic violations if an e-bike goes faster than 10 mph on a shared path with pedestrians 50 feet away. E-bike users would also be required to yield to pedestrians and give an audible warning before passing them.
If the bill is signed into law, “it doesn’t change the way we police them, but it does change the fact that we can ticket them now,” said Winter Park High School Resource Officer Lindsey Ellison. “It gives us more enforcement which is something that we do need because there are unfortunately bad eggs out there that choose to not abide by the law. This gives us more ammunition to give them consequences.”
Ellison said the fines put more pressure on parents to be vigilant that their children obey the law.
At his job, Ellison looks for rule breakers and is known for keeping a snack stash to pass out to hungry teens. Regularly, he reminds students to wear their helmets and slow down. Usually every week, he gets a complaint about an e-bike or e-scooter from a pedestrian who said one zoomed past her on the sidewalk or a teacher driving to school who was cut off by one.
The problems mounted as e-bikes and e-scooters have skyrocketed in popularity in the past few years.
If 200 Winter Park High students ride bikes and scooters to school, about 90 of them are electric, Ellison estimated. Ellison added they are owned by students, so the devices are not the kind you can rent around town.
“The reason they want to pass bills like this is to keep people safe. It isn’t to add more regulations and more red tape for you not to buy these e-bikes,” Ellison said of SB 382. “We want people to buy e-bikes, we want them to enjoy them. We just want them to do it as safely as possible.”
Vanos, Ellison and MetroPlan Senior Transportation Engineer Adriana Rodriguez spoke at a recent Winter Park community meeting to help parents better understand the rules, the dangers and the different types of micromobility devices.
MetroPlan is launching a pilot program this year to pay for online e-bike safety training for 500 students in Orange, Osceola and Seminole school districts. No Winter Park schools are currently involved, but Rodriguez said she hopes the pilot program will expand so more young people can participate and learn how to ride safely.
She added the public can also pay $34.95 to sign their children up for the same training through the American Bicycle Education Association.
AdventHealth Winter Park does not track the number of e-bike injuries, but one doctor said medical professionals are treating head injuries, upper extremity fractures and abrasions as the most common injuries from crashes “As an emergency medicine physician, I’ve seen firsthand how important helmets are,” said Dr. Mitchell Maulfair, the Winter Park hospital’s director of emergency services, in a statement. “As e-bikes have become more popular, it’s important to remember that they’re capable of higher speeds, which can increase the risk of injury if riders aren’t taking proper precautions.”
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by Beth Kassab | Feb 25, 2026 | News, Police and Public Safety
Police Seek More Info on Winter Park's First Homicide in Years
A man was found with a gunshot wound on Railroad Avenue on Feb. 17 and died after he was transported to a hospital
Feb. 25, 2026
By Beth Kassab
Winter Park Police say an individual “involved in the shooting” of an 18-year-old man in Winter Park last week has come forward, though no arrests have been made as police continue the investigation.
A woman who lives on Railroad Avenue called police just before 2 a.m. on Feb. 17 after what she thought might be the sound of gunshots woke her out of bed. She said she looked out her window and didn’t see anything and also texted several neighbors, but they didn’t respond immediately because of the early morning hour.
She told the dispatcher that she heard “a whole bunch of gunshots and then someone just drive off,” according to a recording of the call that redacted the woman’s name. She estimated she heard four or five loud pops.
Police responded and found the victim, J’Vion Raishon Giorgio May-Taylor, with a gunshot wound and unresponsive on the ground in front of a building on Railroad Avenue, on the far west side of the Winter Park Nine Golf Course near the corner of Pennsylvania and Webster avenues. Officers started chest compressions and used an automated external defibrillator on the 18-year-old before paramedics transported him to a local hospital, where he died, according to an incident report.
Officers canvassed the neighborhood, but the portion of the report that describes any findings is redacted because police said the investigation is ongoing.
Police Chief Tim Volkerson said the homicide is the city’s first in at least four years.
Police are still seeking help from anyone who may have information about what happened. You can remain anonymous and call CRIMELIME at 1-800-423-TIPS (8477) or provide an online tip at www.crimeline.org
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