Shooting in Hollywood Beach leaves 9 people hospitalized, including minors

Authorities confirmed that a shooting that occurred Monday afternoon in the Hollywood Beach area left nine people injured, who were taken to nearby hospitals and reported a person of interest in custody, while the search for another suspect continues.

Hollywood police said they received calls about multiple people being shot near Johnson Street after two groups of individuals got into an altercation that was resolved by gunshots.

All nine victims were taken to Memorial Regional Hospital and Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital. At least four of them are under 17 years of age and the other five are adults between 25 and 65 years of age.

Authorities have said that one of the victims is in surgery and that the rest of the people have been reported in stable condition for the moment.

“Right now our hospitals have a couple of victims, up to 5 victims. I don't have details on age or status at this time, it's a fluid situation. We have a couple of minors. The victims are in the trauma center at Memorial Regional Hospital," said Yanet Obarrio Sanchez, spokesperson for the Memorial Health Care System, which includes Memorial Regional Hospital and Joe DiMaggio Children's.

The mayor of the city of Hollywood, Josh Levy, sent through a Facebook post a thank you to "the good Samaritans, paramedics, police officers, and emergency room doctors and nurses for the rapid response to help the victims of the shooting" this Monday.

He assured that the Hollywood Police Department will be conducting the investigation to obtain details of what happened.

Police said they have detained one person of interest and said another is on the run from authorities.

"Supposedly there was an argument between two groups of people, it turned into a fight and someone fired several shots and unfortunately 9 people were injured," said Cristian Lata, a spokesman for the Hollywood police.

"I saw people who were wounded, one person had 4 bullets to the side of the chest, stomach, leg, that was the most serious," said a witness who identified himself as Edward.

As a precaution, they were asked in the hours after the incident to avoid the area from Johnson to Garfield streets, as well as the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk.

Beaches in South Florida, including Broadwalk, have seen a rush of visitors in recent days for Memorial Day weekend.

Hollywood police ask anyone with information to contact hollywoodtips@hollywoodfl.org or the Broward crime hotline at 954-493-8477(TIPS).