8 shot, 1 dead during MLK Day mass shooting in Florida

At least eight people were shot during a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day event in St Lucie, Florida.

According to police, shots rang out Monday night at approximately 5:20 pm during an "MLK Car Show & Family Fun Day" at Fort Pierce's Ilous Ellis Park. 



At least eight people were hit and rushed to the hospital. One victim had been reported as being in critical condition, however, the 30-year-old woman was pronounced dead at a local hospital on Tuesday morning, according to the Herald-Tribune. She had been at the celebration with her 6-year-old daughter.

The "Streets on Lock Car and Bike Show" was originally scheduled at the park from 2 to 6 pm. The event included children's activities, music, and vendors. According to police, over 1,000 people were at the event.

WPBF reported that others were injured when the panicked crowd fled and some attendees were "trampled." These injured people are expected to survive.

St. Lucie County Chief Deputy Brian Hester said during a press conference, "Right now we have eight people that we know of that are at the hospital that were shot. We had another two individuals that were injured during the accident, just kind of during the melee afterward...hit by [a] car or trampled by the crowd as people were just scattering everywhere."

According to Hester, "There was a disagreement of some sort between two parties and unfortunately they chose to resolve that with guns.”

Hester said the scene was "very chaotic" and added, "It was mass chaos as you can imagine when shots rang out. There were a thousand-plus people here at the event. And as the shots rang out, people were just running in all directions...There were people laying behind cars, laying behind anything they could lay behind.

Hester continued, "It was kind of hard to tell who was a victim and who was just hiding at that point. But our deputies did start to render aid (to) multiple people. There were people in the crowd that were rendering aid as well.”

According to Hester, police "know" of one suspect but believe that there are additional shooters because "there were two different areas where shots were fired within the event."

"It's really sad on a day that we're celebrating a leader...who was about peace," Hester added. "It's sad that during the celebration of someone who represented peace and equality, that a disagreement results in the use of guns and violence to solve that disagreement."

At this time, no suspects had been arrested in connection with the shooting but Hester said police were following up on "tips from the community” and other leads.