Shooting at Martin Luther King Jr. Day event in Fort Pierce leaves eight people wounded

Fort Pierce, Fl (treasurecoast.com) – Eight people were shot at a MLK Jr. Day event Monday night.

The shooting broke out around 5:20 p.m. near Ilous Ellis Park following a “disagreement of some sort” between two groups of people, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said.

An “MLK Car Show & Family Fun Day” was being held at that park from noon to 6 p.m., according to the City of Fort Pierce.

“It was mass chaos, as you can imagine, when shots rang out. There were 1,000-plus people here at the event,” Chief Deputy Brian Hester said at a press conference. “And as the shots rang out, people were just running in all directions.””There were people laying behind cars laying behind anything they could lay behind,” Hester said. “It’s kind of hard to tell who was a victim and who was just hiding at that point as our deputies did start to render aid to multiple people. There were people in the crowd that were rendering aid as well. And then there were some people that were loading people up in cars and taking them to the hospital as well.”

Here is the update from the St. Lucie Sheriff from 10:30 pm 1/17/2023:

According to Chief Deputy Brian Hester, at approximately 5:20 this afternoon, a disagreement between two parties resulted in 8 gunshot victims during a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at Ilous Ellis Park in Ft. Pierce. One of those individuals is in critical condition. Four other individuals were injured as they were fleeing the scene.

“Today, Chief Deputy Hester and I were honored to be in the Martin Luther King Jr. parade along Martin Luther King Blvd. Sadly, within hours of that parade ending, we are investigating a shooting in a county park located at Avenue M and 13th Street in which 8 people have been shot,” said Sheriff Ken Mascara.

If you have any information related to this incident, please contact detectives or call Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-800-273-8477.

MEDIA RELEASE:

St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office detectives are on scene investigating a shooting incident that occurred near Ave. M and 13th Street in Fort Pierce. We will provide an update as more information becomes available.