Clearwater Beach was witness to a shooting on Memorial Day, but we can be thankful that this particular incident didn’t end in any deaths.
The Tampa Bay Times reports that a fight broke between two groups at the Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach Resort on Monday evening. Soon after, shots were fired and two people were wounded. According to a Clearwater Beach spokesperson, somebody from one of the two groups left and returned with a gun. Soon after, somebody opened fire on a group of people in the Hyatt’s parking garage. Finally, there was a third shooting incident near Frenchy’s South Beach Cafe.
Despite three incidents occurring within minutes of each other, nobody was killed. Two of the people involved were injured, however, with one being shot in the groin while the other was shot in the hand. The former was taken to the hospital while the latter fled the scene.
After the incident, police closed off the area and began to look for those involved. A SWAT team was called and police searched the Hyatt Regency room by room. In the end, eight people were taken into custody, but none have been charged yet. It’s likely they will face weapon possession charges as police found multiple guns.
As for the cause of the incident, nobody knows at the moment. Witnesses at the scene only report seeing two groups getting into a fight and then hearing gunfire a few minutes later.
As you can imagine, it caused quite a commotion:
Fricking shooting in Clearwater Beach right below our hotel!! Luckily we're on the sixteenth floor pic.twitter.com/cBPQDW7Qm1
— Erin Dolvin (@erindolphin14) May 26, 2014
Developing: Heavy Police presence @ Clearwater Beach, FL. Photo by @Boss_Nay18 pic.twitter.com/xVSlXggVgj
— WFAA TV (@wfaachannel8) May 27, 2014
Here’s an amateur video of the scene after police arrived:
Unfortunately, the above incident isn’t the only shooting that happened over the weekend. A shooting on Saturday at Myrtle Beach saw three dead and one injured after a fight broke out in front of the Bermuda Sands hotel.
Image via Christopher Fischer/YouTube