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How Safe Was Apartment Complex Where Orlando Killing Occurred?

Several local media outlets reported (here and here, among others) about a shooting that occurred at the Woodbridge Apartments located just north of Highway 50 on the west side of Orlando, near Ocoee. Nobody seems to know exactly what spurred the shooting at this residential apartment complex, but physical evidence on the scene suggested that up to 30 shots were fired during what signs like an old-fashioned, Wild West shootout. The shooting left a 30-year old Orlando man dead, and a 31-year old man in the hospital. Several other people suspected of involvement in the shooting fled and were later apprehended.

The shooting occurred in the afternoon, and forced a local school into lockdown mode. Shoppers at a Target store located near the Woodbridge Apartments, heard the gunfire and scattered for cover inside the store. There was no word whether any residents of the apartment complex were injured, but video of the complex shot later shows crime tape encircling one of the buildings.
As an Orlando accident attorney, when I hear a story like this one, I always wonder how an event like this happens in an apartment complex - and particularly an apartment complex located where Woodbridge is located. Many people do not realize that apartment complexes owe a duty to residents and their visitors to know what is going on in and around their complexes, and to use reasonable care in making sure the complex is safe under the circumstances.

Apartment complexes have many different means at their disposal to react to a dangerous environment. A complex can install gates at the front of the community to control access, to slow escape, and generally to discourage criminal activity. A complex can install video surveillance to discourage criminal activity, and to improve the chances of identifying perpetrators. Video surveillance has become increasingly affordable and simpler to use over time.

Perhaps the best and easiest measure that an apartment complex can take is to simply have uniformed security personnel on the premises. Most experts in combating criminal behavior will agree that simply having a uniformed presence on site will discourage and diminish criminal activity. In fact, I was involved in a case several years ago where an assailant testified from prison that he would not have shot our client's son at a Pine Hills apartment complex if there had been any kind of uniformed security presence on site.

What makes this Woodbridge shooting stand out in my mind in terms of negligent security is that the people operating this complex should have plenty of notice as to how dangerous the area surrounding the Woodbridge Apartments is. My office handled a very similar negligent security case in 2008 where a young man was shot and killed at an apartment complex one block away from Woodbridge, also on Dorscher Road. One of the things we do when we undertake a negligent security case is to find out what the level of criminal activity is in the area where our client was attacked. Our research in our 2008 case showed that the area where the Woodbridge Apartments are located has a lot of criminal activity - from murders, to carjacking, to robberies with violence. The folks who run Woodbridge should certainly know about this, and should have taken steps to keep a shootout from happening. Maybe they did - and it just didn't get reported. It will be interesting to see how this story develops.

If you have any questions about dangerous apartment complexes or negligent security claims, please call Orlando premises liability attorney Kim Cullen at 407-254-4901.

Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Kissimmee, Casselberry, Altamonte Springs, Longwood, Lake Mary, Heathrow, Sanford, Winter Springs, Winter Garden, Clermont, Clearwater, Tampa, Lakeland, Cocoa Beach, Melbourne.  As well as Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake, Volusia, Brevard, Polk, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Sumter, and Marion Counties

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