Charlotte County Sheriff’s deputies responded to Harold Avenue Park near Kings Highway on Saturday afternoon after a report of gunfire sent kids and families scrambling. A neighbor said he saw a large group of teenagers near the park bathrooms moments before hearing what he described as a lot of gunshots. Teen boys at the park told WINK that masked people stepped out of a car and fired into the crowd near the water fountain, sending people on the basketball courts and a family practicing on the baseball field running for safety.
Nearly a dozen deputies spent roughly three hours searching the area for leads. In the end, the sheriff’s office said no victims, witnesses, or evidence were located to support the report. That leaves the community with a hard gap between what people say they saw and heard, and what investigators could confirm. The case remains active, and the sheriff’s office has released few additional details.
For a neighborhood that thinks of itself as quiet, a daytime shooting scare at a family park raises real questions about safety, about who was there, and about what actually happened. Harold Avenue Park is the kind of place where retirement walks and pickup games share the same afternoon. Keeping it that way starts with information. If you were near the park Saturday or have anything that could help, contact the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office. What would make you feel safer at your neighborhood park? Let us know in the comments.
