On July 31, early in the morning, there was a fight in downtown Orlando that ended with gunfire. In the sudden shooting, seven people were hurt. Police reports say that the victims have been taken to the hospital and are in stable condition.
Around 2 a.m., the shooting happened in Orlando, Florida, near Wall Street Plaza and South Orange Avenue. Later, at a press conference at 4 am, Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said that the six victims were taken to the Orlando Regional Medical Center. The seventh victim got to Advent Health on their own.
The shooter, who had a handgun and opened fire on a large group of people who were fighting, has not yet been found by the police. During the briefing, Smith asked people to come forward if they knew more about the suspect or had any leads.
“Please call 911 if you know anything about this shooting. We need the help of the community, so please get in touch with us if you know anything about it.”
There is a preliminary investigation going on. The shooter is still out there, but authorities have said that the area is safe.
“We have added more resources and safety measures to the area and are already thinking about adding more resources and safety measures. We are also working with local businesses to see if they have any videos of what happened.”
Sunday night, as bars and clubs were closing for the night, people who saw the terrible scene came forward to talk about it. Karen Dabrowski, who was there when the shooting started and heard about it on FOX 35 News, said:
The people who died in the mass shooting in Orlando are in my thoughts and prayers.
The Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit group, says that as of July 31, 2022, there had already been 382 mass shootings in the US. The number of people killed by guns has reached an all-time high of 25,773.
Gun violence has taken over every city and town in the United States. On July 30, a fight at a restaurant in Wheeling, Illinois, led to a shooting that hurt five people.
On the same day, a shooting killed a 34-year-old man in a small Georgia town with only 200 people. Five more people were hurt. A local, Ryan Mobley, told WJBF:
“I mean, it’s really heartbreaking because you wouldn’t think something like that would happen in Girard, where everyone is so close. Because we live in a small town, everyone knows each other really well.”
The shooting in Orlando is the latest in a long line of gun-related events that have shaken America since the start of this year.
In June, Congress passed a bill to limit guns. This was the most important step toward limiting guns in the country in the last few decades. As part of the reform, buyers younger than 21 will have to go through stricter background checks. The bill needs to be signed into law by President Joe Biden.