FORT PIERCE, Fla. -- Frustration is growing in the Fort Pierce community following a deadly officer involved shooting, killing a 21-year-old man.
But that frustration isn’t necessarily with police or investigators— it’s with residents who are not cooperating with detectives.
St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara said in a News Conference Monday that there were potentially a dozen witnesses of the shooting that killed Demarcus Semer.
No one is coming forward with a first hand account of what happened.
Various community pastors are getting together Tuesday to talk to the media about how they plan to lead the community through this and encourage people to come forward.
Residents like Yolanda Robinson say if the community doesn’t come forward to help with the investigation, they can’t be upset with the outcome.
“Me myself, I would tell [detectives]. I would be more than happy to tell them,” Robinson said. “There’s a lot of unanswered questions. The only person that knows is him, the dead guy and God, and the witnesses. There are witnesses out there.”
Yolanda grew up in Fort Pierce and says she remembers numerous officer-involved shootings.
“I’ve seen about maybe 4 in my life,” Robinson said.
In this latest officer-involved shooting, detectives say officers went to pull Semer over in a traffic stop. They say he didn’t stop, and ultimately ran from officers.
In a chain of events, detectives say Semer’s car hit one of the officers, while another was trapped inside Semer’s moving car.
Both officers fired their guns, ultimately killing Semer, according to investigators.
“If the young man did what the officers say he did, bring that forward. If he didn’t do what the officers say he did, bring it forward,” Robinson said. “ It’s not calling you a snitch. It’s not calling you a rat. You’re just standing up for what is right.”