Downtown Orlando Halloween shooting: Police are looking for a motive after two people were killed in a shooting in a crowded nightclub district. Here’s what we know

CNN
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Orlando police are searching for a motive as they investigate a pair of overnight shootings that left two people dead and six others wounded while tens of thousands of people celebrated Halloween downtown.

Orlando police said the 17-year-old suspect is charged with two counts of first-degree murder with a firearm and six counts of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm.

A 19-year-old man and a 25-year-old man were killed in the shooting. According to police, the victims ranged in age from 18 to 39 years old. Two of the injured were hospitalized at Orlando Regional Medical Center in critical condition but are now listed in stable condition, hospital spokeswoman Marley Martinez told CNN Friday morning. Separately, a 26-year-old woman was hospitalized after being trampled as bystanders frantically fled the scene.

The suspect opened fire at the first location and then ran away with the crowd, Police Chief Eric Smith said, citing footage of the first shooting. In the second scene, police apprehended the suspect seconds after he opened fire, as seen in the video.

About 100 officers worked in the area, which allowed for a quick response but did not appear to stop the shooter, Smith said.

“Whatever his mindset was, he was going to shoot no matter what,” Smith said. “He walked past several officers. He didn’t care.”

Authorities are confident the shooter acted alone, Smith said Friday afternoon, adding that the suspect has not been cooperating or speaking with authorities. The suspect was previously arrested on grand theft charges in 2023, Smith said.

Police are investigating whether the victims were random or known to the suspect. The video shows the moment police say the suspect walks past the victim and then turns around and shoots.

“Did he know him? Has he accidentally stumbled upon someone who is, for some reason, one of his enemies? It’s all part of it,” Smith said.

The suspect was being questioned Friday morning as police looked into the motive, Smith said. “This man sacrificed his life right here. Why?” Smith said.

Authorities are considering whether to charge the suspect as an adult, State’s Attorney Andrew Bain said. “Clearly, given the multiple victims and the brazen nature of the crime, there are several aggravating factors that could fit into the matrix to charge him as an adult,” Bain said.

Shooting broke out just blocks from the scene of the fatal shooting. Night club Pulse mass shooting that occurred on June 12, 2016, when a 29-year-old gunman fatally shot 49 people. At least 53 people were injured and police shot and killed the shooter at the scene.

Here’s what we know about the murders and the investigation so far:

Large crowds gathered for Halloween celebrations dispersed when shots were fired just after 1 a.m. Friday, surveillance video from the scene shows.

Sofia Alcala, who works downtown, told the CNN affiliate. VKMG she heard gunshots before everyone started “going wild.”

“Everyone started running,” she said. “I saw a group of people enjoying Halloween… and then shots rang out and everyone just left. I heard a lot of girls calling and crying.”

A few minutes later, shots were fired at a second location, about a block away. “Shortly after shots were reported, the suspect in the shooting was located and taken into custody in Washington and Orange,” Smith said. A handgun was found at the scene, police said.

Between 50,000 and 100,000 people gathered in the area to celebrate Halloween, which is “one of our busiest nights of the year,” Smith said.

But this year the measures used in previous years screening people for weapons during the downtown Halloween celebration, including security checkpoints and gun-sniffing dogs, was not possible since a 2023 state law allows most people to carry a concealed weapon without a permit, Smith said.

“When the law changed, essentially you can walk on a public street if you meet certain criteria,” he said.

Mayor Buddy Dyer said the changes “have made it even easier for people to carry guns and bring them downtown.”

Dyer has issued a state of emergency for businesses in downtown Orlando’s entertainment district that will stop alcohol sales at midnight and impose a curfew from 1 to 5 a.m., he said at a news conference Friday afternoon.

“We want downtown to be fun and vibrant, but what we’ve seen lately is brazen criminals willing to come downtown and shoot and kill innocent victims right in front of our police officers,” Dyer said.

Police said they are looking into what resources can be added to provide security in the downtown area over the weekend, which they say is typically a popular party spot on the Saturday after Halloween.

Some city officials are now considering whether to close off much of downtown, allowing access from only one point on weekends and special events, District 5 Orlando Commissioner Shan Rose said. VKMG.

“We are working with businesses and some downtown residents to look at options to transition to a full, coordinated hotspot,” Rose said.

Among the two men killed was a University of Central Florida student, Orlando college students confirmed in an email Friday to CNN.

“Our hearts are heavy with grief as we mourn this tragic, senseless violence, which also resulted in the injury of at least one other student and may have affected many students who were celebrating Halloween and were in close proximity to this incident,” – stated at the university. – the largest in Florida, the message says.

Shooting victim Anthony Berry, 20, was shot in the upper part of his skull, an injury that could have been more serious if it had been located an inch lower, Orlando Health trauma surgeon Joseph Ibrahim said at a news conference Friday.

“After it happened, the first thing I did was thank God that I was still here,” said Berry, who plans to major in nursing. Berry was walking with a friend when the shooting started.

He recalled the alleged shooter making a quick motion with his hand, so Berry said he ducked before he saw a flash of white light.

Berry said his head felt warm and he realized he was injured.

“I’m in EMT school, so I just took a trauma assessment. So my shirt… was holding the wound, I knew it was bleeding a lot,” he said. He was later taken to the hospital.

The attack was yet another example of how shootings have disrupted everyday American life. parade routes To homecoming campus To night on the town.

This is the 27th mass shooting in Florida this year. according to the Gun Violence Archivewith over 400 nationwide. CNN defines a mass shooting as an incident in which at least four people, not including the shooter, were shot.