Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods held a press conference on Friday morning to discuss the arrest of two suspects in connection with the shooting deaths of three teenagers on March 30, 2023.
The Florida sheriff pointed out that although the left is pushing for more gun control, it wouldn’t change anything. There are already numerous gun laws – YET – none of them have stopped criminals from getting their hands on guns.
Woods said,“Some of you media want to blame the one thing that has no ability or the capacity to commit the crime itself, and that’s the gun. These individuals committed the crime.”
FOX News reported that one of the suspects is 12 years old and the other is 17.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office is still searching for a possible third suspect.
The Sheriff says the killings were gang-related. He stressed that although a gun was used in the murders, the gun is not to blame.
When a member of the media asked how the suspects acquired the gun in the shooting, the sheriff replied that they got it from “Car burglaries.”
Woods added, “All the gun laws we’ve got in place didn’t prevent it, did it? Neither will any new ones. Here’s the fact: the bad guy’s gonna get a gun no matter what law you have in place.”
At the end of the conference, he stressed that although the media won’t share the photos of the suspects because they are juveniles, they need to be held accountable for their actions.
Sheriff Woods went on to say that society has failed inasmuch as “[society does] not hold our juveniles accountable; we minimize their actions.”
He then went on to express his outrage that certain members of the media will not publish photos of juveniles who have been arrested for heinous crimes.
Woods said, “Our school districts, not just here…school districts across this state and across this nation need to quit minimizing the actions of their students. Hold them accountable. That’s where the failure is.”
