FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – While residents in the South Middle River neighborhood were saddened that a 7-year-old boy who they knew from helping them with their yard work and who enjoyed popsicles was in the hospital Thursday after being shot in the head, neighbors said they weren’t surprised.
The boy, identified by his grandmother as Bryeson Plummer, was at Broward Health Medical Center Thursday in extremely critical condition after police responded to a 911 call at 9:30 a.m. at 1529 NW 2nd Ave., in the South Middle River neighborhood.
It’s unclear whether the boy accidentally shot himself or was accidentally shot by someone else.
“That’s a problem house,” neighbor Robert Miller said.
He had called police only two nights ago after his Ring doorbell camera something he wanted to show police. In the video, a man and a child walk out of the house, while a group is gathered in front by a car. Then, it sounds like a gunshot and you can see the men near the car duck for cover.
“I showed them the video, still pictures, of what goes on there,” Miller said.
Other neighbors said they have been complaining to police for months, too.
One man said he sees “drive by action going on there."
“We’ve seen fights. Everybody on this block has had their belly filled with that house,” he said. “It’s a shame somebody got hurt. There are always groups of people coming and going all day and night.”
Casey Liening of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department said: “The circumstances are still being investigated, but they do not appear to involve any foul play. I know that other children were on scene at the time of the incident, but I do not know how many people.”
Miller said he told officers something bad was going to happen at the house.
“I’m upset. I’m upset, I’m devastated about the child first and foremost, but what I’m really upset about is in six months there has been at least 30 or 40 calls in to that house. And every single time has failed that child,” he said.
The Fort Lauderdale Police Department confirmed what neighbors said: That since Jan. 1 of this year, there have been 73 police calls to the address where the boy was shot. As for why more wasn’t done, that is still unclear.