ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN) – Another real-life episode of Law & Order unfolded during State Attorney Monique Worrell’s press conference at her office Wednesday.

Worrell provided a detailed explanation for why her office has chosen not to prosecute the 17-year-old suspect in the shooting at outside a Jones High School football game that resulted in 19-year-old Gamaine Brown losing his life on November 12, 2022. She shared that her office couldn’t prosecute in the case due to insufficient evidence for a second degree murder charge.

She said the witness that spoke with law enforcement evidently didn’t recognize the suspect when shown a picture of him and, since the suspect was wearing a mask at the time, could only be identified by his clothes, but the witness’s description of what the suspect wore didn’t match the clothing the suspect was actually wearing on the night in question.

“The witness identified the shooter by a nickname that was different from the nickname that the suspect who was arrested went by,” Worrell explained. “The witness did not know the person she identified, and she had never before seen their face. Complicating matters, at the time of the shooting, the person who shot and killed Mr. Brown was wearing a mask. So, the witness must have only been identifying the shooter by their clothing,” she said.

“Although we deal with tragedy on a daily basis in our office, I can’t begin to imagine the pain that Mr. Brown’s family is dealing with right now, especially given the circumstances of the deal of their child,” Worrell said.

“I spoke with Mr. Brown’s father recently, personally, to explain our office’s decision and to encourage him that we are still willing to work with the Orlando Police Department regarding the prosecution of any suspect that is presented to us,” she said.

She also referenced her initial comments on OPD’s handling of the case and said she regrets the harshness of her criticism.

Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith issued a statement on Tuesday in response to Worrell’s initial remarks about the case.

“It is both disappointing and disheartening to see the unfair criticism coming from the State Attorney’s Office regarding the hard work of our detectives pursuing justice for the victims and their families in this case,” Smith said in his statement.

“It is difficult to obtain and maintain witness cooperation in a homicide case. In this case, we had one witness willing to come forward and received zero tips to Crimeline. It is troubling that the State Attorney’s office released active and detailed investigative information that has hindered this ongoing investigation,” Smith said. “At no point did we say this investigation was over.”

Worrell said that her office finally nailed down dates to meet with the other law enforcement agencies for training on “building better cases”: April 13th and 14th.

“Our goal is to work collaboratively with our law enforcement officers for the safety of our community,” she said.

ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN) – Ninth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Monique H. Worrell is set to speak on another shooting.

Worrell will hold a press conference providing an update on the Jones High School shooting tragedy at her Downtown Orlando office Wednesday at 10:30am ET. Viewers can catch the press conference on the Office’s Facebook page, or through Florida National News on our Facebook pages (@FloridaNationalNews and @FNN News TV) and YouTube channel (@FNNNewsTV).

Wednesday’s press briefing comes two weeks after her update on the mass shooting in Pine Hills which resulted in three deaths and two hospitalizations. Keith Moses was charged with second degree murder for all three deaths. She pushed against Governor Ron DeSantis and even shared that she’s been made aware that DeSantis is trying get her removed from office.

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — A Florida mayor turned in his resignation during a tense budget meeting and said he made the quick decision due to concerns over the direction his colleagues were taking with city funds.

Clearwater’s Mayor Frank Hibbard called for a five-minute recess Monday and made the announcement afterward. Before the recess, the council had been discussing how to pay for a $250 million shortfall for about 30 projects, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

Hibbard had pushed back against spending $90 million for a new city hall and municipal services complex while his four colleagues said was their top priority for the city of Clearwater, which has a population of about 116,000 people and is 23 miles (37 kilometers) from Tampa on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

He called his resignation one of the toughest decisions he’s had to make.

“I’m not a quitter, but I’m not the right leader for this council anymore and I’m concerned where the city is going, because this is simple math and we’re not doing very well on the test,” Hibbard said.

Council member Kathleen Beckman’s mouth was agape as Hibbard spoke. She then reconvened the budget workshop and urged her colleagues to carry on despite being “shell-shocked,” the Times reported.

After leaving the meeting, Hibbard told the Times he made the decision on the spot.

He called his wife, Teresa, who he said asked if he could live with the decision. “I’m not going to have a choice,” he told the newspaper when asked the same question.

“This is so out of character for me … I don’t do things lightly,” Hibbard said. “I don’t want to criticize the council, but it’s an overall vision for where the city is going and being fiscally responsible. We talk about affordability and everything else, but we’re not doing the things that continue to keep a cap on costs.”

Hibbard was in the last year of his four-year term, and had already announced he would not seek reelection. He had previously served as mayor from 2004 to 2012, and took office again in March 2020, just as the global pandemic was beginning.

After the budget meeting, the city’s attorney told the council he wanted to speak with Hibbard to confirm his intentions before they discussed replacing him.

By that time, Hibbard had already cleared out his office.