Associate Editor

With the recent violence exhibited by the shooting death of a young man in McLaren Circle, Kissimmee officials at a City Commission meeting Tuesday agreed to set up a meeting to address social issues after a Kissimmee pastor appeared before the dais raising concerns.

Under the Hear the Audience section on the commission agenda, Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church Rev. Remer Baker Jr., a longtime Kissimmee resident, addressed the commission over the June 5 shooting death of Rashan Hasaun Ortiz and the annual graduation block party Ortiz was attending in the area of Ginwright and Smith streets, in an area known as McLaren Circle.

Baker stressed that there weren’t sufficient regulations or stipulations to deal with youth at the event nor were there any special permits pulled for the overnight party that began June 4.

“Minors have a curfew and the curfew law was not invoked here,” Baker said. “If it would have been, this party should have been dealt with. Somebody should have caught this and said this party cannot go this long.”

According to Florida law, anyone under 16 cannot be out between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and from midnight to 6 a.m. on weekends and holidays.

Shots rang out at 2:40 a.m. on Sunday, June 5, at the event; Ortiz, 22, a 2007 Osceola High School graduate and athlete, died at a local hospital. The shooter, Joshua Harris, 17, was found in the area of Americana Boulevard and Texas Avenue in Orange County by the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force. Harris, a Kissimmee resident, has been charged with murder and attempted murder. According to police, Harris targeted Ortiz due to a long-standing feud, but the shooting was not gang-related.

“Perhaps we need to sit down and look at some better guidelines,” Baker said.

Mayor Jim Swan accommodated Baker, suggesting that he, City Manager Mike Steigerwald, and members of the Kissimmee Police Department set up a meeting with the reverend and other ministers to review some of the city’s ordinances linked to the issue and “come up with some ideas.”

Swan, however, said he believed the problem was more than just the laws pertaining to youth in the community.

“I think the problem is we have too many guns around too many kids that shouldn’t have them,” Swan said. “We got to work on it together and if we don’t, it’s a huge mistake on us,” Swan said.

Baker said he already had several ministers on tap ready to meet with city officials.

“We will get with you because it’s much needed,” Baker said. “I believe if everybody works together and looks at what’s there, it will alleviate a lot of pressure off the community.”