Not exactly. Applebees is primarily a restaurant, but they do have a bar. You can carry a firearm into a restaurant, but you cannot bring it into the bar area. You are only prohibited from carrying a firearm in an establishment whose primary purpose is to sell alcohol.

Yes, until 1am. Perkins is open until midnight. Margarita Republic is open until 2 am. Surprised me, too. I thought everything around here closed down around 8. But I wouldn’t want to go to any of them at that hour if that’s the sort of clientele they draw.

Very few facts have been released on the shooting. I am guessing that the man who was shot was carrying a gun and who knows what he was saying or how he was acting.

Begs the question, WHY?

My point is that this is a retirement community. Or am i in a fantasy land believing that?! I understand every city in the U.S. is ridden with crime. Just seems to me we should not have people shot dead in a community of retirees.

People in this world work different shifts.......................midnight might be breakfast, lunch or dinner for some.

Yes they are open till 1 am. Fridays it’s 2 am!

Because they are a business trying to make money.

I know, who goes to Applebees at 1 am, do you know how bad that food is for you?

Only a couple that I know of here in the Villages. Two or three since they built the Villages. That is murders not suicides.

Where will you go to feel safer?

The Villages are relatively safe - however I’m learning if there are stories like this, more times than not they occur in the northeastern/Spanish Springs/ Lady Lake quadrant of The Villages

I am glad that the Lady Lake Police are doing this carefully and not bringing the media in too soon. Especially with facts like these.

Unfortunally, we are not shielded from outside interests in the Villages, anybody can enter and visit at will, the squares are full of outsiders. So, unless you lock yourself in your house 24 hours a day, this can happen anywhere.

I think there is a name for this type of poster.

According to Florida law, you may carry a concealed weapon in places that serve alcohol, as long as food is also served.... A bar that serves only alcohol, is prohibited from concealed carry.

wrong!

According to the article, shots were fired outside so the employees locked the doors of the restaurant and called 911. The man tried to enter the restaurant through the front door but it was locked. At that point, a woman who was already inside the restaurant opened a side door and let the man inside.

Is there any reason why a woman would let a man with a gun inside the restaurant?

Love.

Do you really think Applebee's had anything to do with it ? Interesting thought. The woman inside, who let the "shooter" (?) from out in the parking lot into the restaurant... think she was an employee or just a customer finishing up her meal after restaurant was closed ? Also doubt Margarita Republic wants to be known as "dangerous", or had anything to do with the incident(s). Is it human nature ? Or the free flowing alcohol in a community where the population has all day long (IF they choose), to do nothing but drink alcohol ? As the population grows, and grows, and grows, anywhere, the problematic individuals increase, and increase, and increase !

Totally agree. The "facts" and important "details" of this are really missing in the public report of it. Concerning weapons, concealed carry, etc. etc. The part most people do not get, in their sincere desire to stop senseless killings and crime, is that passing additional "laws" beyond a "reasonable" process (such as permits, or excluding those who have mental problems, etc. Do we ever REALLY know if an individual has "mental problems") really seem to be a frustrated public's fruitless effort to continue to make sure the "wrong" people do not get their hands on fire arms. When you think about that, does anyone really think this newest idea, that banks and credit card companies must report individuals who purchase fire arms by check or CC, is going to work ? How many gang members and career criminals actually purchase their fire arms with their credit cards ? How many people lie on "questionnaires" ? It's similar to all the killing you read about by SUV's (you never see an article where a person was killed by a "Ford coupe", or a "Chevy sedan", nope, it's always an SUV ! But, was it the vehicle or the driver ? Is it the gun or the person holding it ? Could we stop all this needless death, far more than shootings, by passing more and more laws concerning who can purchase an SUV, or any vehicle ? Should be prevent the purchase of a vehicle by individuals with a history of alcohol abuse, DUI, suspended license ? I personally don't think people think through these troubling questions in a logical way. Thinking these types of problems can be solved, or even controlled, by man passing more laws? Not going to work in MHO !

Probably true, if we really want to compare though, wouldn't we have to compare the number of incidents in the V's compared to the total number of residents and same with NYC to get an accurate pictures. Would seem to be the way to get a more accurate picture, meaning any town with 10K people, that has 100 armed robberies annually, or a town/city with 2.7 million and has 10K armed robberies annually..... would be interesting if our daily paper would publish the actual police blotter like you see in most newspapers. Always difficult to determine actual crime stats, as there are just so many ways to set up the equation used to figure them !

You can say that again, and again, and AGAIN... food for the masses to consume... LOL ! Few facts or details, a LOT of questions of who is/was connected to who. Any restaurant employees have any connects at all ? Just too many questions. Watch the Daily Sun for the facts when they come out.

Considering the size and rapid growth of the Villages, we NEED MORE Police. We are an INVITING TARGET.

More police, to do what?

Have they always had these hours, until 2 a.m. on weekend, 1 a.m. other days ? I truly don't remember, but thought came to me, is this an attempt to try to recover from the devastation of covid ? Just a thought, perhaps that's the standard hours of Applebee's everywhere ? Nothing scientific, just anecdotal...but it seems the food establishments that have extended, or all night hours, attract a higher percentage (not ALL, but a higher percentage) of "troubled" or impaired guests ! ? Maybe mom's advice about nothing good happens after midnight, or even 11 p.m., might not be bad advice...LOL !

Maybe they could arrest criminals?

Was it an actual robbery attempt ? Maybe the restaurant does not want the publicity ? Maybe an employee(s) were involved, maybe The Villages does not want these things made public knowledge (harms the "perfect" image) ? A LOT of "maybes"... the entertaining part of these types of social media sites, we can all express our "maybes' ...LOL !

Maybe if you get more police, they will build more sidewalks.

:beer3:

Oh, NO ? Really ? LOL ! But it's good for early bird coupons right ? LOL, LOL, LOL.

This thread could be in the running for most entertaining of '23 !

Although, it does seem strange that the police report wouldn't state whether or not the dead man had a gun.

Really ? We have a ghetto ? Really ? That sure was not the plan or intent of the founder ! Are you sure that people are "better" (morally better grounded, spiritually aware, honest, etc.) depending on WHICH village the buy/live in ? Interesting "theory", worth thinking about. What do the real estate agents advise ? Do they inform retirees of the "good" (meaning safe villages) and the dangerous areas ? A lot for potential buyers to consider !

I do agree that retirement communities in general, are "target" areas to some extent. Even to "service" providers, the sub-standard type "business" people who lie about licenses, registrations with the state, etc. Would more police stop the growing problem of crime nation wide, and here ? Maybe. Would not hurt I suppose, but how many communities are not having problems just finding suitable officers ? We seem to have a lot of alcohol fueled "incidents" here, not a prohibition proponent, we KNOW that does not work, but, alcohol does seem to play into a lot of incidents that reflect POOR or impaired judgment ! :ohdear::ohdear::ohdear:

I'm not being sarcastic, but do you think that non-retirees are going to drink more (or less) than retirees, or have more metal deterioration or judgment impairments ? Fewer troubling personality and character "defects" ? Interesting to contemplate, do working people actually cause more "trouble" ? I have no idea, but interesting to ponder !

Oh my goodness no, that is not correct. Soon after we built in 2004, a couple was shot dead by robbers in their home in a Marion county village, and we live in a village just north of Lake Sumter, and had FBI, etc. etc. here investigating a killing (not suicide). I think you may have that impression because murders here are, as much as possible, kept as quiet as possible, more so than in most communities.

Could be, but then, maybe not so strange for our community where "facts" are rarely available, and we have only one daily paper. On the other hand, concerning the college student murders in Idaho, the police really kept a lid on ANY facts getting out and into print, so it's not uncommon for "us" observers to know little, or nothing, of the facts ! ?

I believe just the mother of the daughter who had a boyfriend involved with the drug trade up in Ocala died. The husband was wounded.
RENALDO DEVON McGIRTH v. STATE OF FLORIDA (2010) | FindLaw

They are probably worried about hearing from Ben Crump Ben Crump - Trial Lawyer for Justice if anything is off in this shooting. He does seem to show up almost every time there is a heavily media covered death involving a black man or woman and a police department and with other wrongful death cases.

Why do you assume it was someone living in TV that was involved?

You DO realize that this restaurant is on the edges of TV and serves a diverse cross section of the local population, right? Especially in the later hours of the evening...