A fight between two groups turned deadly in Florida when a shooting occurred on a Tampa street during the festivities.Halloween festivities, left two dead and 18 people hospitalized early Sunday, police reported. One suspect is in custody and at least one more is being sought.
At least two people opened fire shortly before 3:00 a.m. in the 1600 block of East 7th Avenue in the Ybor City area, Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said during a news conference at the scene.
The fight broke out in an area with several bars and nightclubs, and there were a large number of revelers in the area at the time, Bercaw said. At this time, police do not know for sure if the people involved in the fight were inside any of the bars before the shooting.
Tampa police spokeswoman Jonee Lewis said “hundreds” of people were on the streets when numerous nightclubs closed early Sunday. She added that one person was arrested but no charges have yet been filed against him.
“They are being questioned and we will go from there,” Lewis stressed.
This is how the shooting happened in Florida
Video posted online shows people, many wearing Halloween costumes, drinking and talking in the street at the moment when about a dozen shots are heard, followed seconds later by about eight more detonations, which generated a stampede. Some people fall onto metal tables and take cover behind them. A video that was recorded later shows police attending to several injured people lying on the ground.
“It was a riot or a fight between two groups. And in this fight between two groups we had hundreds of innocent people involved standing in the way,” Bercaw said.
He did not provide details of the injuries suffered by victims taken to area hospitals.
Police are still investigating the cause of the fight. between the two groups, he said.
Several officers were at the scene at the time of the shooting, but none were injured, Bercaw said.
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