A 13-year-old boy was injured in a drive-by shooting Tuesday night, hours after a girl was struck by a bullet in another Orange County shooting.

  • Boy, 13, struck in leg as bullets fired at home
  • Hours earlier, 9-year-old girl was struck in another drive-by shooting

Meanwhile, Orange County deputies continue a search for suspects in both cases, and Sheriff Jerry Demings says he is working to form a task force to battle the rise in gun violence.

At about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, deputies were dispatched to the 7700 block of Newlan Drive about a shooting.

When they arrived, they talked with the boy's family members, who told deputies that someone had driven past the home and fired several rounds at it. The boy sustained a non-life-threatening wound to one of his legs and was taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, according to the Sheriff's Office. He's expected to recover.

The boy's parents, his brother and a family friend were in the home at the time of the shooting, which remains under investigation.

Earlier Tuesday, a 9-year-old girl was struck by a bullet as an Orlando home was sprayed with at least 30 rounds from three different guns, the Sheriff's Office said.

In the wake of two children getting shot in two days, Demings said he wants to team up with the community to try and curb the violence.

"We're are seeing about an 11 percent increase in the calls for service related to the discharge of firearms," he said.

Demings said he's forming a task force to battle the increase in gun violence. He is using a template from the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office to reach out to what he calls "community stakeholders" who have a vested interest to help bring change.

"The cities that have done have seen up to a 30 percent decrease in their violent crime," Deming ssaid. "So what we want to do is see if there is something that we can learn using their template, but we are going to make this unique for our community."

Demings would like the new program to be up and running in about a week.

Meanwhile, anyone with information on either shooting is asked to call Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS — tipsters can remain anonymous — or the Sheriff's Office.