BREAKING NEWS

UPDATE: Chief Says Downtown Shooting That Killed 19-Year-Old Was Targeted; Six Others Wounded

Pensacola Police Chief Eric Winstrom says at least one gunman opened fire on a crowded block of Intendencia Street after a Fourth of July “teen takeover” swelled to hundreds of unsupervised young people, correcting several details from my early morning report.

What we know now

• One dead, six wounded. A 19-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene despite officers applying tourniquets and performing CPR. The other six victims, ranging in age from 16 to 26, were taken to area hospitals and are all expected to survive.
• Shooting happened around 1:20 a.m. on Intendencia Street between Jefferson and Palafox streets, in the middle of a large crowd that had gathered after the city’s Fourth of July fireworks show.
• Police believe it was targeted. Winstrom said investigators do not believe this was a random act of violence, though it remains unclear whether any of the seven people hit were the intended target.
• No suspects identified, no arrests in the shooting. As of the press conference, no one was in custody in connection with the shooting itself, and detectives had not yet named a suspect.
• It may not have been one shooter. Winstrom said it’s too early to rule out multiple shooters, though at least one is confirmed.
• Hundreds of young people, many unsupervised. Winstrom said a crowd that started filling in around 9:15–9:30 p.m. grew to as many as 500 mostly teenagers and young adults, many of them too young to get into the Palafox Street bars but staying in the area regardless.
• At least five arrests were made overnight before the shooting. The arrests were mostly for disorderly conduct and throwing “mortar” fireworks at people. One of those arrested, a teenager, was found armed with a handgun in his waistband.
• Roughly 50 extra officers had been deployed for the holiday, three times the normal deployment, specifically because large teen gatherings after fireworks shows have been an issue in past years.

The Chief’s Account

Winstrom said the night started as planned. The department had publicized ahead of time that it was adding roughly 50 officers for the Fourth of July fireworks to let families enjoy the show safely. As the night wore on, though, a crowd of what he estimated at hundreds of unaccompanied young people—some as young as middle-school age—began engaging in disruptive behavior, including throwing fireworks at people. Officers made contact with many of the younger kids and mentored them about the danger of fireworks rather than arresting them, he said.

“At about 1:20 we heard gunshots in the area of Intendencia between Jefferson and Palafox. Officers very close by, including myself and others, ran in a location. We saw numerous people on the ground suffering from gunshot wounds.”

He described the crime scene as large. It stretched the length of the block on Intendencia Street between Jefferson and Palafox and beyond, since some victims ran further before collapsing. Forensic teams were still processing the scene as of the press conference, and Winstrom said he personally saw a significant number of shell casings, estimating the gunfire “sounded like a volley” and that a count of 10 to 20 shots “wouldn’t surprise” him.

• On why he believes it was targeted: Winstrom pointed to preliminary witness accounts and surveillance video reviewed so far, along with the shooting scene, a narrow stretch of Intendencia Street, that he said makes it difficult to hit a moving target at any real distance without firing multiple rounds. He said that increases the odds that a handgun aimed at one person put bystanders at risk for blocks in every direction.

Community cooperation, and how safe the chief says downtown is

Winstrom repeatedly praised the response from businesses and bystanders. He said downtown businesses opened up surveillance footage without hesitation, and people who were on scene stayed to talk to officers rather than leaving. One additional business on Palafox Street contacted police overnight to volunteer video for detectives to review Sunday morning.

“We have had a lot of cooperation from individuals that were there. A lot of cooperation from the businesses that were there… Everyone in the community is really stepping up and showing that we don’t want. Pensacola doesn’t want to be the city that’s ever going to be numb to a single person shot, much less seven of our community members struck by gunfire.”

Despite the shooting, Winstrom said he does not consider downtown unsafe. Asked what he’d tell residents worried about safety at downtown events, he emphasized that investigators believe the shooting was targeted rather than random, and that getting the shooter or shooters off the street will make the area safer, not that the area itself is inherently dangerous.

“This is a very safe city, and there’s very few people I think in our community that are willing to pull a trigger and take the life of someone else… I’d say that I would feel comfortable taking my family down to Palafox Street tonight.”

This remains a developing story. We will continue to update as police release more information.

This post updates and corrects our earlier report. Overnight, based on social media accounts and initial media reports, we said the shooting happened in the 100 and 200 blocks of South Palafox Street and that a fight involving a thrown bottle preceded the gunfire.