One of the alleged gunmen in the July 5 shooting at Sara Sims Park in Boynton Beach was booked into jail Wednesday, eight days after police authored a warrant for his arrest, court records show.
Kenneth Hollis, 25, of Boynton Beach, was one gang member who shot at rivals at an unpermitted event called “Peace in the Hood,” according to a probable cause affidavit. Hundreds of people, including children, were hanging out in the area in and near the park when multiple gunmen started shooting blindly, hitting three women and five cars, some with adults and children inside.
The event’s organizer, who lives in Lake Worth Beach, applied for a special-event permit on June 17 to use the park as the venue for the “Stop Violence Awareness” rally with 50 to 100 people until about 8:30 p.m., according to emails the police department provided to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The permit was denied, but the event was still held.
Hollis is a known member of the “Cherry Hill Boyz” gang while other suspects are members of the “16th Ave Boys,” according to court records. Members of 16th Ave Boys were standing next to a fence on the south side of the park while members of Cherry Hill Boyz were across the street next to the Community Deliverance Church in the 200 block of Northwest Ninth Avenue.
The chaos in the crowd sent bystanders running, ducking underneath and inside of cars, according to the affidavit. One woman told police that she fell on the ground while she ran away from the gunfire, and one of the gunmen who had a long rifle was running behind her.
One of the three women who was shot was walking around the event when she was struck, the affidavit said. Another heard the shots, quickly realized she had been struck and hid under a car. The third, Diamond Delk, told police a man standing near her on the south side of the park was the person who started the shootout, aiming toward the parking lot of the church nearby, according to the affidavit.
Delk’s attorney Richard A. Ryles has filed a notice of claim, blaming the city and the police department for not shutting down the event. The police department in response to questions from the Sun Sentinel said that the shooting didn’t happen on city-owned property.
Three witnesses picked Hollis out of a photo lineup as one of the suspects involved, the affidavit said, though Delk could not identify him or other suspects in the lineup.
Hollis previously spent three months in federal prison after he was adjudicated on felony charges related to stolen mail, according to the affidavit. The conviction prevented him from owning or having any guns.
He is facing charges of attempted second-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm, possession of a firearm by a conviction felon and discharging a firearm in public. He has not yet entered any plea and is held without bond.
Jamarion Petty, 19, of Boynton Beach, was arrested Saturday when he voluntarily went to the police station after seeing a be-on-the-lookout alert about himself.
At the police station, Petty said he was at the event alone when he heard gunshots, according to a probable cause affidavit, so he took out a small gun and ran toward a house but “was adamant that he did NOT shoot” it. Petty identified himself in a photo from the park’s surveillance cameras.
Petty is facing charges of attempted second-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and discharging a firearm in public.
The police department has not commented on either arrest as of Thursday or provided information about how many suspects they have identified.
This is a developing story, so check back for updates. Click here to have breaking news alerts sent directly to your inbox.