1-year-old among 9 shot after altercation near beach in Hollywood, Florida, authorities say
By Amy Simonson, Elizabeth Wolfe and Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN
(CNN) — Six of the nine people shot and injured in a shooting near Florida’s Hollywood Beach Broadwalk on Monday remain at area hospitals in stable condition, while three others have been treated and discharged, police said Tuesday.
A 1-year-old is among the victims of the shooting, which police believe began as an altercation between two groups in a busy area of the beach Monday.
Of the nine victims, four are minors between the ages of 1 and 17, and five are adults between the ages of 25 and 65, according to a police update.
Hollywood police detained multiple people Monday, including two men they believe to be involved in the shooting who were arrested on weapons charges, Hollywood Police Department spokesperson Deanna Bettineschi said at a news conference Tuesday.
Police are asking for the community’s help in identifying three additional people they believe were involved in the shooting.
Police said they recovered five handguns – two of which were stolen.
Hollywood Police has dozens of officers assigned to the beach on busy holiday weekends, which allowed for an immediate response, Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy told reporters Tuesday. “That’s the reason why we were so quickly able to detain two people. Police were on hand within seconds or minutes.”
CNN spoke with a tourist who was on the beach Monday when the gunfire broke out.
“We were sitting in these chairs, the three of us and then we heard the gunshots,” Paige Simmons told CNN’s Carlos Suarez. “My mom was like ‘Get in the hotel,’ so we ran. We had the door propped open, so we ran in there and we were looking out the window and everyone scattering, running, ducking, trying to find place places to hide.”
The gunfire that rang out as people gathered at the end of Memorial Day weekend was one of at least 262 mass shootings in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter.
The beachside scene joins the list of other common destinations that have been the setting of gun violence, including schools, grocery stores, birthday parties and malls.
Authorities say the shooting happened near Johnson Street and North Broadwalk, a bustling palm-tree-lined pedestrian walkway that borders the beach and features restaurants and shops.
The sound of gunfire sent people fleeing down the busy sidewalk and into the nearby sand, footage from the city’s beach camera live feeds shows.
When police responded to the area around 6:45 p.m., they found nine people had sustained gunshot wounds, Bettineschi told reporters Monday.
The injured were transported to Memorial Regional Hospital and Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, according to Memorial Healthcare System spokesperson Yanet Obarrio-Sanchez.
Video taken outside of the hospital Monday shows first responders lifting a crying toddler with a bandage on its foot out of the back of an ambulance. Other victims were wheeled out on stretchers.
Though the hospital spokesperson said all the victims were in stable condition, Bettineschi noted one person was undergoing surgery late Monday.
Authorities asked people to avoid the area as the investigation continued.
A family assistance center was set up near Johnson Street and North Ocean Drive, Bettineschi said.
“This is an area where families can go and they can talk to the detectives on scene and ask them questions about family members, and they can also get information about their vehicles that may be inside of the crime scene.”
Hollywood is about 20 miles north of Miami and is home to Hollywood Beach, a popular tourist destination.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Amanda Jackson, Jamiel Lynch contributed to this report.
