Hollywood Beach mass shootingâs youngest victim a 1-year-old: 9 injured in Florida

A dispute between two groups ended in gunfire on the crowded Hollywood Broadwalk near the end of the Memorial Day weekend, leaving nine people shot, including a 1-year-old child, police say.

The Broadwalk, a popular beachside destination, was crowded with families and people enjoying the holiday Monday when the gunshots began. People began to run. Officers, paramedics and Good Samaritans went to help those who were shot.

“People come to enjoy a holiday weekend on the beach with their families,” Mayor Josh Levy said late Monday night. “And to have people in complete reckless disregard of the safety of the public — and to have an altercation with guns, in a public setting with thousands of people around them — is beyond reckless.”

Of the nine wounded, five are adults, ranging in age from 25 to 65. The four wounded youth range in age from 1 to 17 years old, said spokesperson Deanna Bettineschi. The wounded were taken to Memorial Regional Hospital and Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, Bettineschi said. One person was in surgery, and the rest of the shooting victims are in stable condition, Bettineschi said. The 1-year-old is among those listed in stable condition, she said.

One suspect was in custody, and police were searching for a second suspect, Bettineschi said earlier Monday evening.

Both the mayor and Hollywood Police Chief Chris O’Brien vowed that the police would leave “no stone unturned” in finding and arresting those responsible for the shooting. O’Brien said Hollywood police were being assisted by state and federal agencies. O’Brien called the shooting a “senseless act of gun violence.” He said, “It’s unfortunate when we have law-abiding citizens come to our beach to enjoy the day and that gets disrupted by a group of criminals who engage in this type of violent activity.”

Police encouraged the public to send any pertinent videos or photos to [email protected].

“We are asking for the public’s help,” O’Brien said. “If you saw something, ifyou have video of something, as minor as you think it might be, please send it to us so we can follow up and investigate it.”

Late Monday night, police kept a big presence along the Broadwalk, and investigators were still talking with witnesses in the area.

Police asked people to avoid the Broadwalk and other areas near the beach as they investigated. The areas to avoid, police said on Twitter: Hollywood beach from Johnson to Garfield streets and the Broadwalk.

As the shooting happened, people began running for cover.

Police began receiving 911 calls about 6:52 p.m. Dozens of officers already were on duty in the area, amid the big crowd from the holiday.

Officers “immediately responded,” Bettineschi said. “They found the nine victims with gunshot wounds. They immediately rendered aid.”

Jamie Ward, 46, the former mayor of Mayfield, N.Y., moved to South Florida last year. He said he was riding and electric bike down the Broadwalk when the shooting began. He said there were two groups who argued and then the gunfire happened.

“I saw a gentleman with a compression tourniquet on his leg. He was definitely the victim of a gunshot wound,” Ward said. “I saw another larger gentleman with a compression bandage across his chest that was being whisked away on a gurney by an ambulance.”

It was too early to say whether it was one or more people who opened fire. “That’s something we’ll be looking at in this investigation,” Bettineschi said.

During a 10:30 p.m. news conference, a reporter asked whether any of the nine shooting victims would be detained for the shooting. It was also something police would be looking into, Bettineschi said. “This is the very early stages of the investigation. We do have victims who have gunshot wounds so they’ve been taken into the hospital. So making sure that they’re OK, that’s first.”

Levy said a shooting with so many victims was a never-before occurrence on the Broadwalk. “Our beach has millions of beachgoers a year. It’s a very popular and beautiful destination,” Levy said. “Ordinarily, it’s a peaceful beach.”