Religious activists disrupt Halloween in Cape Coral, parents say

CAPE CORAL, Fla. — A religious activist group harrassed children along Pelican Boulevard during trick-or-treating Monday night, parents said.

The group stood at the corner of Pelican and Southwest 35th Street and spoke through megaphones, telling children they were going to hell, according to the parents.

Logan Guzman, 15, said he saw at least two kids crying. He said the group held signs with messages like “stop now” and “go worship Christ, stop celebrating the devil’s day.”

“They do have a freedom of speech and that’s really important, but I don’t think it’s right for you to say that and make little kids cry,” Guzman said.

No arrests appear to have been made, and a police spokesperson said what the group was doing wasn’t illegal.

“Basically this is aggressive preaching, and that would not fall under the criminal category,” Cape Coral Police Department Lt. Dana Coston said.

Coston said he would recommend people ignore groups that bother them. Guzman said that for the most part, that’s what those within range of the megaphones did, but some tried to fight back.

Onlookers began yelling back at the group, and one man sprayed them with a hose to get them to disperse, videos show. A driver blared a car horn in an attempt to drown out the megaphone.

Cape Coral resident Jeremy Carter, a former street preacher, said he’s had his eye on the group for a while.

“They’re dangerous. They’re not holding true to the Bible,” Carter said. “… To tell children that they’re gonna go to hell is a very very low thing to do.”

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