On July 21, 2024, a tragic incident occurred at Riverland Park & Pool in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, resulting in the death of 3-year-old Rylo Yancy. Rylo was attending a birthday party for a one-year-old when a drive-by shooting took place. The shooting happened around 4:30 p.m. near the 900 block of Southwest 27th Avenue and 9th Street, close to athletic fields, pools, and two schools, as well as the Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Station 47.
During the party, which was decorated with Sesame Street themes, more than 20 shots were fired at the gathering. Rylo was hit by the gunfire while he was on a slide. Witnesses described the chaos and terror as the shots were fired, with one child, Rylo's 8-year-old cousin Chastity Ford, recounting how she saw Rylo being shot and how she was grabbed by her uncle to safety.
Rylo was rushed to Broward Health Medical Center as a trauma alert by Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue personnel but succumbed to his injuries. The incident has left the community and Rylo's family in deep grief. Relatives and community leaders, including the mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Dean Trantalis, and Police Chief Bill Schultz, have appealed for help in finding those responsible for the shooting.
The Fort Lauderdale Police Department has recovered two vehicles involved in the shooting—a 2024 red Mercedes-Benz C 300 and a 2017 black Mercedes-Benz C 300—but as of the current date, no arrests have been made. The FBI and Broward Crime Stoppers are offering a $10,000 reward each for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for Rylo's death.
The community has come together to demand justice for Rylo, with family members and officials urging anyone with information to come forward. The family has expressed their devastation and called for an end to the violence, describing the perpetrators as cowards and pleading for them to turn themselves in. The incident is part of a larger concern about recent shootings in Fort Lauderdale, which have resulted in multiple deaths and injuries in the past few weeks.
