What's changed in year since mass shooting on MLK Jr. Day in Fort Pierce?

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Nikkiti White said she had to completely alter her life after a mass shooting a year ago during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration event.

Now she said she has custody of granddaughter Ni’Dazia Williams, who was 9 when her mother, Nikkitia Bryant, 29, was fatally injured in the shooting Jan. 16, 2023, at Ilous Ellis Park in Fort Pierce. Ni’Dazia was with her mom during the gunfire that also wounded seven others.

“It's easy for us to be content in what we have, the things that we have, the things that we do, and don't realize that all of a sudden it can be taken away by the blink of an eye,” White, 48, said in a recent interview. “I learned that.”

Once an over-the-road truck driver, White now is getting back into nursing.

An estimated 1,000 people attended the event, which featured a car show and food trucks, in the park in the 1300 block of Avenue M, which is in a residential area with many nearby homes.

Then St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Brian Hester said about 50 cartridge casings of at least three different calibers were recovered.

“I go through days of crying,” White said. “It's hard for me to get up, it's hard for me to go to sleep, when I do sleep I want to stay asleep to keep from thinking.”

She said Ni’Dazia sometimes shuts down, and that during New Year celebrations she started crying as people lit off fireworks. White said they rode down the road and a noise as if a tire popped sounded.

“She almost jumped out of the seat,” White said, noting Ni’Dazia thought it sounded like gunfire. “She teared up.”

Arrest

The sheriff’s office announced in March 2023 the arrest of Kemmye Parson, now 29, who is being held criminally responsible for Bryant’s death. He faces charges of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm - discharge of firearm, second-degree felony murder and possession firearm or ammunition by convicted felon. He has a court date in February.

Records show Parson is not accused of firing the fatal gunfire.

The attempted first-degree murder with a firearm charge relates to allegations Parson opened fire in an effort to kill a person identified as “John Doe.” That unknown person didn’t die.

In outlining the second-degree felony murder charge, records state Parson “was not the person who actually killed Victim 8 (Bryant).”

Chief Assistant State Attorney Stephen Gosnell has said the second-degree felony murder charge “entails (Parson) committing the crime of attempted first-degree murder, and during the commission of his attempted murder, somebody else — not Parson — fires and kills the victim.

“The cause of death is not by Parson's own hand, it's by the hand of another,” he said. “But it's based on the chain of events he started during the commission of his attempted first-degree murder of his victim.”

White said she was pleased with the arrest, but thought “each person that shot needs to be held accountable.”

She has faith those responsible will be brought to justice.

Trejavious Bryant, 28, is one of Nikkitia Bryant’s three brothers. He remarked on the impact to Ni’Dazia, noting when you can see the hurt in her “it crushes you.”

Still, she’s happy to participate in therapy.

“After all this stuff, I saw a little bit of joy,” Trejavious Bryant said. “It made me happy to see her start to enjoy herself again and starting to actually enjoy going places.”

Cameras and security

Sheriff’s officials in February attended a County Commission meeting to present information about installing surveillance cameras and license plate readers in at least some parks.

Commissioners in October approved the expenditure of more than $252,000 for the initiative, which includes Ilous Ellis Park and others.

“We didn't want to just identify Ilous Ellis as a problem park. It's just something happened there,” Commission Vice Chair Chris Dzadovsky said in a recent interview. “All of our parks are vulnerable without some type of security measures.”

Ilous Ellis Park is in the city limits of Fort Pierce, but operated by the county. It’s in Dzadovsky’s district.

“We've recognized that there are some challenges that we want to fix and make better and our communities safer,” Dzadovsky said. “So we've worked with the sheriff over the last year, looking at our parks and looking at different issues.”

No public events have been booked at Ilous Ellis Park since the Martin Luther King Jr. event last year until the camera and security measures are in place, according to Erick Gill, county spokesperson. He said the sheriff’s office is in charge of working with the vendor to install the cameras.

A sheriff’s spokesperson and Sheriff Keith Pearson did not respond to repeated phone messages and e-mails beginning Jan. 2 to ask about the mass shooting, which the sheriff’s office is investigating.

Fort Pierce Mayor Linda Hudson praised the county’s efforts to invest in technology for more security.

“We have invested in it too, and it's only going to augment our law enforcement effectiveness rate,” Hudson said. “We, of course, still need the eyes and ears of the community. But sometimes when the community can't or won't tell us we have cameras who will.”

A number of Martin Luther King Jr. activities have been ongoing prior to the Jan. 15, “Grand Parade,” which begins at 10 a.m. at Avenue I and North 25^th Street. The parade proceeds south to Lawnwood Stadium via Quincy Avenue, and up to 1,000 people from entities including public schools, local churches, businesses, clubs as well as public officials, are expected to participate, said Cheryl McCrary, parade coordinator for the Grand Parade.

“Our theme this year is dream, believe and achieve and we are hoping that those words will ring a bell somewhere in everyone's heart and soul,” McCrary said.

White plans to be in the parade as part of efforts to stop gun violence.

“I just want to focus on the gun violence in the community," White said. "We have a lot of unsolved murders here."

White encouraged people to stop being silent.

“This community can't change if we don't change it,” she said. “I’m here to change it. I'm not backing down.”

Fort Pierce Police Chief Diane Hobley-Burney said many officers will be on hand during the parade to help keep the event safe.

“We have been in the planning process with the MLK committee, and the assurance of the safety of all is the main priority,” she said.

Hobley-Burney said the Fort Pierce Police Department’s honor guard will start the parade.

“I think that everyone was having a wonderful time during the parade, and unfortunately, the situation occurred at the park,” Hobley-Burney said. “We are working hard to ensure that things like that don't ever occur again.”

White said she’s getting her life back on track, and trying to find housing.

“The emotions, some days, I get up and I just can't get it together for hours,” White said. “I’m just just an emotional wreck for hours.”

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Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on X @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-267-7926. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Year of change, challenge for mother of MLK Day mass shooting victim