On March 23, 2024, at 3:34 a.m., deputies responded to 2711 N. Pine Hills Road. The address where the shooting occurred is located at a plaza that houses multiple businesses.
A location at that address was operating as an illicit after-hours club. When deputies arrived on scene, they found two men who had been shot. They were both pronounced deceased on scene.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) stated it is still very early in the investigation, and they have no suspect or motive information.
Anwar Dakhyl works at Royalty Liquors which is one of the businesses located at that address.
Although Dakhyl operates from behind a bulletproof window, he said he feels safe in the neighborhood. “I’ve been working here since 2017 and I’ve never had any problems,” Dakhyl said.
When The Florida Sun asked Dakhyl if there is anything law enforcement can do to help keep the area safer, he said possibly patrolling the neighborhood more could be a solution.
Illegal Alcohol Sales and Criminal Activity
In an email, OSCO wrote “illicit businesses operating after-hours attract criminal activity, violence and illegal drugs.”
Although nothing was mentioned in the statement by OCSO about alcohol leading to the Saturday morning shootings, OCSO referenced recent state legislation that passed unanimously that allows for harsher penalties for illegal alcohol sales.
Florida law states, if local law does not provide hours of alcohol sales, the sale of alcohol is only legal off and on-premise between the hours of 7 a.m. and 12 midnight.
Steps to build a safer Downtown Orlando
There have been major changes made in other areas of the city to create a safer environment.
In an effort to make Downtown Orlando safer, a moratorium went into effect on March 20, 2023. The moratorium prohibited the opening of new nightclubs in the Community Redevelopment Agency. On August 14, 2023, City Council extended the moratorium for another six months.
Last Wednesday, March 20, 2024, the moratorium expired.
According to orlando.gov, the moratorium put a “pause” on the opening of new nightclubs to provide the city with time to further study the concentration of nightclubs in downtown with the intent of making additional recommendations on how to better support them and to better manage development and zoning implications.
