Two people were killed and six injured after a gunman opened fire in Orlando while people were celebrating Halloween.
A 17-year-old suspect was arrested, according to Police Chief Eric Smith, after gunshots were heard in two different locations and police took him to the ground.
“He pretty much walked downtown, went outside and did what he did,” Chief Smith allegedly said, adding that he didn’t enter any clubs.
Terrifying video shows hundreds of people running for their lives after gunshots were heard in the city centre.
The victims range in age from 19 to 39, Smith said. The dead and injured have not yet been identified and their families continue to be informed.
The young people, many of them dressed in Halloween costumes, had been partying last night in the area before the horror unfolded.
Dozens of police cars and dozens of police officers were seen attending the scene in downtown Orlando in the early hours of this morning.
An emergency call came in shortly after 1 a.m., with reports that several people had been shot around Central Boulevard and Orange Avenue, according to the Orlando Police Department.
Smith said he received a second call from Washington Street and Orange Avenue.
“Shortly after the reported shooting, a suspect was located and detained at Washington and Orange,” Smith said in his briefing this morning.
Dozens of police cars and dozens of police officers were seen attending the scene in the early hours of this morning.
“The Orlando Police Department is conducting an investigation into a shooting in downtown Orlando,” the force said in a statement.
‘We are still gathering information and interviewing witnesses. We will have more information this morning.
Last night, in another shooting in Washington state, one person was killed at a shopping complex hosting a Halloween trick-or-treat event.