FORT PIERCE — Shelitta Woods calls the past six months “miserable.”

“You got to understand, it’d been like 13, 14 years before I had another child,” Woods said. “It was just me and Lil’ Bo, just me and Lil’ Bo, everywhere I go, me and Lil’ Bo.”

Woods’ 16-year-old son, Torenda “Lil’ Bo” Youngblood Jr., was fatally shot at his bus stop March 9, two days after Demetrius Wells, 18, sustained fatal wounds in a drive-by shooting. Two men also were hit by gunfire during separate shootings between the homicides. (more…)

STUART — Even though Martin County detective Sgt. Bill McCaw grew up on the South Side of Chicago and lived amid gang violence, he didn’t have the slightest clue it existed when he was a child.

Few people did.

Heading the gang intelligence unit, the 20-year Martin County Sheriff’s Office veteran spoke to residents Wednesday evening to try to make sure that gang growth doesn’t go similarly undetected in Martin County.

The event at the Martin County Administration Building sponsored by Project Northland occurred two days after 16-year-old Torenda Youngblood Jr. was shot and killed at his Fort Pierce bus stop, the most recent of four shootings since Saturday.

At least two were “directly related to gang violence,” said Fort Pierce Chief of Police Sean Baldwin.

McCaw sees gang violence as a problem that continues to seep into the county.
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Posters of professional athletes line the walls of Demeterius Wells’ bedroom.

His bulky textbooks from Indian River State College are stacked near his computer, and a bookshelf displays his Vero Beach High School diploma next to trophies he won on the track and field team.

His grandmother Patricia Chambers, who raised him after his mother died from ovarian cancer complications when he was 8, broke down in tears Sunday after describing the untimely death of her 18-year-old grandson early Saturday morning.

The Fort Pierce Police Department said Wells was shot several times on the 1300 block of North 31st Street in Fort Pierce at about 1:50 a.m. Saturday. Family members said he was dropping off a friend when the shooting occurred. (more…)

Ebony Baret

Ebony Baret, 28, was a community service aide who worked with the Fort Pierce Police Department since late 2001.

She was arrested today after a joint investigation by police and the 19th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office revealed she was using department equipment to tip off gang members about the department’s operations, Chief Sean Baldwin said. (more…)