FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Family members are speaking out, Monday, after a 21-year-old man was murdered in Fort Myers last week.
Fort Myers Police say Zachary Holmes was shot to death during a home invasion at his Waterford Apartment on Central Avenue. Less than 24-hours later, they arrested 20-year-old Ronald Eugene Ashley III, 20-year-old Steven Williams and 18-year-old Jacques Brown JR. They are all facing murder charges.
Although the arrest brings some comfort to the family, uncle Josh Holmes said it won't bring Zach back. He believes the murder could have been avoided, had the suspects been off the streets. "There needs to be an outcry against senseless murder like this. He didn't come from a family of malice and hate. He loved people and he was good to people and he was generous to people," he said. "They already had priors in the exact same category, but they only graduated to the big boy leagues of murder."
Holmes believes many people slip through the cracks, in a society where he says violence has become the norm. "People have become so desensitized because they see it every day," said Holmes. "Someone needs to speak up and say 'hey, we can dig a little deeper. We can try a little harder, and that way, we won't wake up one day filled with regret,'" he said.
After the swift arrests, FMPD made the following statement: "I could not be any more proud of the effort and commitment displayed by all of our personnel to identify these three individuals and remove them from our city streets before they had an opportunity to harm another member of our community."
