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Firebombing Spurs More Calls To Counter Violence

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By Anthony Cormier and Christina E. Sanchez, Sarasota Herald Tribune

Published: February 12, 2008

In the wake of a horrific firebombing Sunday where residents were fired upon as they fled their burning home, people in northwest Manatee County are wondering what it will take to stem the recent violence.

Neighbors have marched, rallied and lit candles to mourn the dead.
Public officials want to build a new park, or maybe a basketball court, to give young people something
safe to do.

Community activists started a private tip line so witnesses can come forward without fear of retaliation.

And still, the violence persists in this group of mostly lower-income neighborhoods surrounding Palmetto:

A mother of three killed in her home in November.

A 20-year-old shot to death eight days later on the same street.

A man gunned down behind the Rubonia Social Club last week.

And then the firebombing and shooting Sunday, which authorities say may have been in retaliation for last week's killing, but occurred at a home likely not related to the homicide.

The surge of violence north of the Manatee River, in neighborhoods such as Rubonia, Memphis and the outskirts of Palmetto, has shaken residents and left community leaders searching for answers.

"Shock, fear - people don't know what's next," said Gwen Brown, a county commissioner who represents the areas recently hit by violence. "They don't know what the heck is going on."

As residents looked for solutions, the victims of Sunday's early morning fire and shooting began their recovery.

Nanise Raymond, 21, remained in a St. Petersburg hospital with at least four bullet wounds, and her mother, sister and two daughters were staying with relatives until they could find a permanent place to stay.

The Raymonds were asleep when a bedroom window caught fire, and a beer bottle filled with an accelerant crashed in the living room. The family ran out, were met with gunfire and retreated back inside the burning home.

Eventually, the shooters ran off. A neighbor later found a six-pack of Miller beer bottles filled with gasoline or alcohol left behind burning in a nearby yard.

Neighbors and relatives say that the attack was at a mistaken location, that the two masked men were looking for a 25-year-old who once lived next door.

That man, China T. Smith, sometimes stayed with an aunt in the Palmetto Village apartments. He has told authorities that he was the shooter in the killing, but he has not been charged. His friends and family say he acted in self-defense.

Smith was bonded out of jail on an unrelated drug charge over the weekend, and friends say he is in hiding.

Smith's family declined comment on Monday.

The apparent randomness of the shooting was a surprise to neighbors, many of whom have lived here for decades. This corner of the county, on 25th Street East, has traditionally been home to low-income blacks.

Valencia Raymond, a disabled woman who lived next door to Smith's aunt and was the victim of the firebomb, feared retaliation and had seen strange vehicles driving past her home over the weekend.

Crime, residents say, is largely limited to fistfights and break-ins, but a new generation of young people seems to be taking over.

"It used to be awful quiet," said Otis Lee Coger, 77, who lives about a block from the Raymonds' home. "Now it's noisy, it's the younger folks raising a racket with their loud music and their cars."

As the family and neighborhood try to move past the crime, activists such as Patrice Poole and Shavonda Bailey are working to make sure public officials do something to stem the tide of violence.

Both women grew up in these neighborhoods, and started Active Concerned Citizens in the wake of home invasion deaths last year.

They were among the first to offer help to the Raymonds -- raising $1,200 so far -- and have been the driving force behind vigils and marches to protest the killings.

"We've got to do something," Poole said. "It just can't go on like this. I don't know what is going on, but I know we have to find a way to stop this."

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