What to Know
- A Memorial Day shooting on the Hollywood Broadwalk left nine people including four children hospitalized
- Two men were arrested on weapons charges in connection with the shooting but three others were being sought
- Police said a total of five handguns were recovered during the investigation, including two that were stolen
Two people have been arrested and at least three others were being sought in Monday's mass shooting on the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk that left nine people including several children hospitalized, police said.
The shooting happened shortly before 7 p.m. near Johnson Street as the Broadwalk was crowded with Memorial Day beachgoers.
Hollywood Police said of the nine victims, four are minors and five are adults. The children range in ages from 1 to 17, and the adults are ages 25 to 65.
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All of the victims were taken to either Memorial Regional Hospital or Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital.
By Tuesday morning, three adults had been treated and released from the hospital, while the other victims were in stable condition. Their identities weren't released.
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Hospital officials gave some of the credit for their recovery to the quick action of good Samaritans on scene.
"Nowadays, people learning how to hold pressure on something that’s bleeding, someone that knows control pressure, is like the new CPR," Memorial Regional's Dr. Andrew Rosenthal said.
Sean Bennett was one of those who jumped in to action to help the injured. He said he found a 15-year-old who was shot twice and applied pressure to his wounds and tried to keep him calm until first responders arrived.
"He was in a lot of pain, he was in shock, but he did well," Bennett said.
Police said the incident started with an altercation between two groups of people that resulted in gunfire.
Surveillance video showed part of the scuffle. Video from the city of Hollywood's live feed of Hollywood Beach appeared to show the moments immediately after the shooting, with people seen running or seeking cover when the gunshots were fired.
What appears to be two guns can also be seen on the ground in the video.
Witness Kayla Buzon said she was sitting on a hotel balcony when she heard the gunfire.
"In an instant you heard at least six gunshots go off," she said. "You could see multiple people laying down on the ground. Three people from what I could see and one woman that was sitting off to the side where her leg had gotten grazed by a bullet. Really the scariest part was seeing parents dragging their children almost across the floor to get behind the small wall barrier that was literally the only protection that anyone had trying to stay clear of all the chaos that was going on."
Audio of the panicked 911 calls for help was also released Tuesday.
"The Margaritaville. Please. On the beach. They're shooting out here," one caller says.
"Did you see who was doing the shooting?" the operator asks.
"No! We didn't see nothing. We don't know where he came from a different area and then hit a guy on the beach. A guy near us," the caller says.
Another caller reported hearing five rapid gunshots and another told the operator they see someone on the ground, shot.
Officials said there were additional officers at the beach for the holiday weekend and that some officers heard the gunshots and responded.
Cellphone video from a witness showed paramedics tending to multiple people with injuries on the beach.
"I heard like three gunshots and I just see a wave of people running off, like screaming and running out," witness Marvin Mikhail said.
Officers responded and detained multiple people at or near the scene.
Police said Tuesday that while the people detained weren't identified as the shooters, two were arrested on firearms charges.
The two men arrested were identified as Morgan Deslouches and Keshawn Paul Stewart, both 18. They're charged with carrying a concealed firearm, and Deslouches is also charged with grand theft of a firearm and removing a serial number from a firearm, officials said.
As of Tuesday, five handguns had been recovered, police said. Two of the handguns had been reported stolen, including one from Miami-Dade and one from Texas.
Officials also released photos of three people who they believe were involved in the shooting, and are asking for the public's help in identifying them.
"It's unfortunate when we have law abiding citizens come to our beach to enjoy the day that gets disrupted by a group of criminals who engage in this type of violent activity," Hollywood Police Chief Chris O'Brien said late Monday. "We will leave no stone stone unturned. We have numerous agencies out here assisting us today to include state and federal agencies. These that were involved in the incident today will be held accountable for their actions."
At a news conference Tuesday, Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy was the two people arrested were not from Hollywood but were from elsewhere in South Florida.
"I'm very confident that we will apprehend those three persons," Levy said. "When you do something like this in broad daylight, with CCTV cameras up and down our Broadwalk, you will be identified and you will be caught and brought to justice. We're not gonna tolerate this kind of behavior in a beautiful beach setting. We're a very peaceful city and we will not tolerate people coming into our city and behaving in this way with no regard to people that are in harm's way with iinocent bystanders injured like they were yesterday."
Levy said he was shocked by the act of violence and disregard for people who were on the Broadwalk.
"It's pretty crazy, right? In broad daylight, in the middle of a holiday weekend with thousands of people on one of the busiest public beaches in the country, for people to come in and suddenly start shooting at each other in broad daylight, who does that?" he said. "You wonder what kind of people our society is raising for them to be so inclined to act in such a criminal way."
Anyone with information is asked to call the Hollywood Police Department at 954-764-4357(HELP) or 954-967-4567, or submit tips to the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI
