Sixty-three households in the Village of Palo Alto banded together and raised $6,000 to purchase two Automated External Defibrillators.
Fifteen residents of the neighborhood are now trained first responders.
But one of their AEDs was stolen sometime this past weekend.
The unit had been locked up, according to Richard Linder who lives on Gerardo Avenue and has been a leader in the AED program in the neighborhood.
The neighborhood is about seven minutes from the nearest Villages Public Safety station at County Road 466 and Morse Boulevard, Linder said.
“Most neighborhoods are about four minutes from a public safety station,” Linder said. “For us those extra minutes could be the difference between life and death.”
He said that is what makes the AEDs so important to the residents of the neighborhood.
The theft of the AED was reported to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
The AED will be replaced, Linder said.