TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A fight between two groups turned deadly in Tampa when a shooting during Halloween festivities resulted in two deaths and 18 people hospitalized early Sunday morning, police said.
Officers responded to the shooting in Tampa just before 3 a.m. on the 1600 block of East 7th Avenue in the Ybor City area, Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said during a press conference at the scene.
The fight occurred in an area with several bars and clubs, and there were large numbers of late night revelers in the area at the time, Bercaw said. Police were not immediately sure if the people involved in the fight were inside any of the bars before the shooting.
Gunfire erupts at Halloween celebration
Video posted online shows people in Halloween costumes drinking and talking on the street when shots ring out, creating a stampede. Some people topple over metal tables and take cover behind them. Video from the aftermath shows police officers treating several people lying wounded on the ground.
A volley of about a dozen shots rang out followed a few seconds later by a volley of about eight shots.
“It was a disturbance or a fight between two groups. And in this fight between two groups we had hundreds of innocent people involved that were in the way,” Bercaw said.
He did not provide details of the injuries suffered by the victims taken to area hospitals.
Motive for Tampa shooting unknown, police say
One suspect turned himself in to police, and investigators believe there were at least two shooters involved, Bercaw said.
Police are still investigating the reason for the fight between the two groups, he said.
Officers were at the scene at the time of the shooting but none were injured, Bercaw said.
It was at least the second mass shooting in the U.S. following the violence in Maine in which 18 people were killed and dozens more hurt.
The suspected gunman in that incident was found dead following a two-day manhunt.
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