2 killed, 6 injured in shooting in downtown Orlando; Police chief says 17-year-old suspect arrested

ORLANDO, Fla. – Eight people were shot in downtown Orlando early Friday, according to police.

According to News4JAX sister station WKMG, Two people were killed and six others were injured in the attack, Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said at a news conference, adding that a 17-year-old suspect had been arrested.

According to the Orlando Police Department, just after 1 a.m., officers received an emergency call stating that multiple people had been shot in the area of ​​Central Boulevard and Orange Avenue. A second call came in from Washington Street and Orange Avenue, Smith said.

“Shortly after shots were reported fired, a suspect who fired the shots was located and taken into custody in Washington and Orange,” Smith said. “(…) Officers saw a second shot being fired at Washington. Nobody saw the first one at Central. Of course we used cameras to see this and play it back. We had the ability to play him in big parts. We moved the camera, we saw the shooting happen, we immediately released his identifier, but the officers saw the second shooting because, I mean, when he came and started shooting, you saw there were five officers right there looking in that direction. and shot multiple people there.

At the time of this writing, the 17-year-old was believed to be the only suspect in the shooting, according to Smith. Smith added that the teen was previously arrested for grand larceny in 2023.

“During this night, as you can see in all the videos, we had nearly 100 police officers scattered around working on details, the officers reacted very quickly, the officers did a great job. As soon as they heard the gunshot, they reacted immediately. You know, everyone is running, but they are not running.” , they’re looking for the shooter, they found the shooter, they took him down,” Smith said.

Stating that the ages of the victims were between 19 and 39, Smith added that the survivors were in stable condition at the time of preparation of this report.

Judging by footage of huge crowds on Halloween, there may have been between 50,000 and 100,000 people downtown at the time of the shooting, according to Smith.

Orange-Osceola State’s Attorney Andrew Bain said during the press conference that based on available information, the suspect could be charged as an adult pending further investigation.

WKMG is awaiting confirmation from the Orlando Police Department on how the suspect’s name was spelled.