St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that eight people were shot during an MLK Jr. Day event in Fort Pierce Monday. One of the people who was shot is in critical condition. All of the shooting victims are adults.The shooting happened at Ilous Ellis Park at 5:20 p.m. during the MLK Car Show and Family Fun Day. Deputies say more than 1,000 people were at the event.Four others were injured during the chaos after shots were fired, including a child, according to officials. They are all expected to survive.Your neighborhood: Local coverage from WPBF 25 News WPBF 25 News obtained video from the scene, which shows a large crowd enjoying the event when gunshots ring out. “The first two shots were, ‘Bang. Bang,'” said Charlie Frank Matthew, a witness. “I witnessed two people get shot.””It was mass chaos as you can imagine when shots rang out with, there were a thousand plus people here at the event, and as the shots rang out, people were just running in all directions,” said St. Lucie County chief deputy Brian Hester.People can then be seen confused before they begin ducking, running and hiding behind cars. One woman is seen running to safety while holding a baby.Video below: A look at the sceneThe sheriff’s office says two deputies were at the event on a detail and were able to respond to the incident right away. The sheriff’s office says since Ilous Ellis Park is a county park, the agency has jurisdiction in that area. The responding deputies rendered aid to victims shortly after the shooting Hester says they were not able to see who initially fired the shots. Other people at the event rendered aid to victims as well. Some people transported victims to a local hospital in their cars.Another video shows a group of people rendering aid to at least one victim. “Multiple people were shot, it sounds like from our initial investigation here on scene there was a disagreement of some sort between two parties, and unfortunately, they chose to resolve that with guns,” said Hester. “It’s really sad in a celebration of someone who represented peace and equality that a disagreement results in a use of guns and violence to solve that disagreement, and that’s what’s really sad to me about what happened here. And then so many innocent people who were injured or hurt and were not part of the disagreement as well.”Investigators say dozens of deputies are following up on leads throughout the Fort Pierce area. No arrests have been made at this time.WPBF 25 News was the first local news crew at the scene.Share with us: Upload your photos and videos via uLocalThis is a developing story and will be updated as information becomes available.
FORT PIERCE, Fla. —
St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that eight people were shot during an MLK Jr. Day event in Fort Pierce Monday. One of the people who was shot is in critical condition.
All of the shooting victims are adults.
The shooting happened at Ilous Ellis Park at 5:20 p.m. during the MLK Car Show and Family Fun Day. Deputies say more than 1,000 people were at the event.
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Four others were injured during the chaos after shots were fired, including a child, according to officials. They are all expected to survive.
Your neighborhood: Local coverage from WPBF 25 News
WPBF 25 News obtained video from the scene, which shows a large crowd enjoying the event when gunshots ring out.
“The first two shots were, ‘Bang. Bang,'” said Charlie Frank Matthew, a witness. “I witnessed two people get shot.”
“It was mass chaos as you can imagine when shots rang out with, there were a thousand plus people here at the event, and as the shots rang out, people were just running in all directions,” said St. Lucie County chief deputy Brian Hester.
People can then be seen confused before they begin ducking, running and hiding behind cars. One woman is seen running to safety while holding a baby.
Video below: A look at the scene
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The sheriff’s office says two deputies were at the event on a detail and were able to respond to the incident right away. The sheriff’s office says since Ilous Ellis Park is a county park, the agency has jurisdiction in that area. The responding deputies rendered aid to victims shortly after the shooting Hester says they were not able to see who initially fired the shots.
Other people at the event rendered aid to victims as well. Some people transported victims to a local hospital in their cars.
Another video shows a group of people rendering aid to at least one victim.
“Multiple people were shot, it sounds like from our initial investigation here on scene there was a disagreement of some sort between two parties, and unfortunately, they chose to resolve that with guns,” said Hester. “It’s really sad in a celebration of someone who represented peace and equality that a disagreement results in a use of guns and violence to solve that disagreement, and that’s what’s really sad to me about what happened here. And then so many innocent people who were injured or hurt and were not part of the disagreement as well.”
Investigators say dozens of deputies are following up on leads throughout the Fort Pierce area. No arrests have been made at this time.
WPBF 25 News was the first local news crew at the scene.
Share with us: Upload your photos and videos via uLocal
This is a developing story and will be updated as information becomes available.
