Police said the 10 arrests over this week were all associated with the 13th Street Gang."The particular street gang we're talking about is not only these individuals on this page, and I think that's important to remember," said Sgt. Dennis McWilliams.Investigators said they think the arrests will put a dent in gang violence in the city.Operation Ceasefire is a cooperative effort between Fort Pierce police and the state attorney's office. The charges range from directing activities of a criminal street gang to aggravated assault with intent to kill to tampering with a witness."Our hope is by taking some of these violent people off the streets that have been tampering with witnesses, it will open up the doors for us in these other investigations and allow some community members that we know have information to come forward and know that we're going to do what we have to in order to protect them and keep them safe," Baldwin said.
Police are hoping the community can help them find two suspects who are still at large -- Harry Lee Cooper Jr. and Willie Works Jr.Investigators are also trying to find out who shot and killed 18-year-old Demetrius Wells March 7 and 16-year-old Torenda Youngblood at his school bus stop March 9."We absolutely have leads in those cases, and we're still extremely confident we're going to be able to solve those cases," Baldwin said. "I believe these arrests today are going to help us solve those cases."Baldwin added that he believes they have the leader of the 13th Street Gang, but wouldn't say if that person was one of the 10 they just arrested.The state attorney's office pointed out that some of the suspects could face mandatory life sentences -- meaning there would be no chance they'd ever get out of prison.