Mapping Sarasota's Murders

If public officials want to go the code enforcement route for cracking down on properties contributing to homicides, they’ll have a tough time actually finding a structure to nail it on. 

Out of the seven homicides in city limits, all of the victims except two were found in the street. One victim was shot outside of a home, and another victim died in a home where he likely sought shelter from the shooting before he died, police said.

, city staff and law enforcement to help stop the murders and  suggested the code enforcement route for public nuisance.

The first barrier, Capt. Paul Sutton of the Sarasota Police Department said, is the nuisance code only looks at crimes related to prostitution, drugs and gangs. The second barrier is having the state change the law, because the city code reflects the state on that issue.

Only one of the 2011 homicides can occurred at a house. Check out our map of the location of the 2011 Sarasota murders. Locations marked in teal are outside of city limits.

• and were found in the street, according to police.
• was reported to be standing in the street, but he was taken to the hospital by friends before the incident was reported to police. The trial for Murray’s death starts Friday. Police arrested Olajuwon Butler, who had entered a not guilty plea.
• was shot outside of a home in a crowd of people on 30^th Street, while died inside of a home and was likely shot somewhere else, police said. 

All of the homicides in city limits also show how concentrated the murders are — all are in Newtown. That’s less than a mile apart from the two farthest locations.

Two other murders outside of city limits happened in North Sarasota.  One in front of on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, and the other inside of a home on Schwalbe Drive in Kensington Park.

The only murder that didn’t happen in North Sarasota ended with the body of James Brotherton of Port Charlotte found in front of the Gulf Gate Public Library on Nov. 22. That was minutes after he was last seen at a nearby Bank of America ATM with the suspect.

UPDATE: After this story was written, a report came in Tuesday of an , which was confirmed Wednesday. The Sheriff's Office hasn't said who shot whom or what the motive of the death was inside the home on Carriage Drive. The map has been updated to reflect the new homicide.