Tallahassee Police urging vigilance amid recent teen crime uptick

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - After four teens were arrested after allegedly carjacking a woman who gave them a ride on Jan. 25 and a Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare employee was reportedly attacked on Jan. 19 Tallahassee Police Department are calling both cases “crimes of opportunity.”

TPD said neither instance was “gang-related” and both were “completely isolated” but officers are stressing the importance of the services provided through the department and community so it doesn’t happen again.

“We’re working with the community, with all of our programs DEFY, TEMPO, TPAP, there’s a lot of programs out there that we’re going to continue to do work within this community,” said Detective Michael Combs.

Wednesday a woman told police she was approached for a ride in the Target parking lot on West Tennessee Street by four teens.

TPD said she reportedly drove the teens to two locations, the 1000 block of Basin Street and the 1700 block of Joe Louis Street.

TPD said the teens walked into a unit at the Springfield Apartments before returning back outside, beating the woman and stealing her car.

The four were later arrested in Gulf County after they ran out of gas being chased by authorities and were charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle, carjacking and battery.

The teens were ages 15, 14, 13 and 13.

TPD said the victim is “fine and in good spirits.”

“It’s just a crime opportunity for these groups, it’s the time and place and then unfortunately they decide to do these acts,” Combs said.

Following an attack on a female employee at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital on Jan. 19, the hospital said it has ramped up its security measures for the “safety and security of our colleagues and patients.”

Those measures include requesting more patrols from TPD.

That employee was attacked by another group of four teens at the busy intersection of Miccosukee Road and Magnolia Drive.

Those teens were arrested hours later at the intersection of Dade and Brewer Street.

TPD said they hope those instances of violence can be eradicated with additional services targeting teens in the community.

“We do our best to utilize our services, our initiatives here at the department as well as the community to buy in helping us out with getting these teens involved in things to help them and show them a better life,” Combs said.

The State Attorney’s Office said, as of now, the teens in both cases are not being charged as adults, but a decision on whether or not to charge them as adults will be made in the next two weeks.

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