NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. — A weekend shooting in North Fort Myers has raised concerns about broken streetlights along Pondella Road. The Lee County Sheriff's Office said the person who was shot was in critical condition Monday.
One local business owner told Fox 4 that she believes the shooting, which happened just before dawn Sunday morning, might have been prevented if the area had better lighting. Crews began repairing the streetlights Monday.
Deana Campbell, owner of Deana's Country Kids daycare center, said she counted fourteen broken streetlights near her business on Pondella Road and June Parkway. She said she first reported the broken lights to LCEC about two years ago.
"They told me I have to go take a picture of the bottom of the light pole and send it to them," Campbell said. "I said, 'not all of them. That's ridiculous.'"
LCEC spokeswoman Karen Ryan said it's unusual for any of the streetlights that the utility company maintains to be out for so long.
"That is very surprising," Ryan said. "Our service standard is typically to repair lights within seven to ten days."
Ryan said she couldn't find any recent record of the outage being reported.
"However, we did change our system over the last year, so it may be that these (streetlights) just happened to fall through the cracks," Ryan said.
"(Repair crews) will be out there tomorrow, until all the lights are repaired," Ryan added.
Campbell said she hopes better lighting along Pondella Road will help prevent more crime in the area.
"It is great to see something finally being done," she said. "What upsets me the most is that somebody has to pay the cost."
The Sheriff's Office had no information on a suspect in the shooting to release Monday, but said the investigation is ongoing.
