Eight people were shot in Florida during Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations.
Three adults and five minors suffered gunshot wounds when a shooting occurred at Memorial Park in Northwest Miami-Dade two hours after a Martin Luther King Jr. parade had ended.
Via the Miami Herald:
Police evacuated and closed the park after the shootings as investigators combed the area for clues. The festival at the park, where families gather to eat, play and listen to music, has become a staple of the post-MLK parade.
Terrell Dandy, who was in the park, said all was peaceful before he heard three gunshots. Then
the crowd began to stampede out of the park.
"It was good until you had these idiots out there shooting," Dandy said. "It was just a bunch of commotion."
Meanwhile, an emotional Shante Kelsey, whose 18-year-old daughter Shawnteria Wilson was shot, was critical
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of police response on a day when thousands of people flooded Liberty City's streets. She said the two got separated before she learned of the shootings.
"I felt like nobody was there to help my daughter," Kelsey said.
Wilson was in stable condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Relatives and friends of the shooting victims gathered at Jackson seeking updates on the shooting victims.
Only one of the seven others who were shot - a 20-year-old man identified by police as Jerome Battle - was in critical condition. Police said three teenage girls - Lajada Benson, 14, Nakya-Senat Butler, 15, and Alfanesha Timesages, 17 - were shot and in stable condition. A 30-year-old, whom police identified as Michael Clarke, was also in stable condition.
Police said 11-year-old Ciara Johnson and 13-year-old Keionna Green were grazed and treated at the scene and released to their parents.