Fort Lauderdale apartment complex shooting under investigation
MIAMI - Fort Lauderdale police continue to investigate an apartment complex shooting that left five people wounded during a confrontation between two groups on Wednesday evening.
The shooting happened around 8:40 p.m. in the courtyard area behind the Broward Garden apartments at NW 19th Street and NW 29th Avenue, according to police.
As of Thursday afternoon, one person remained in critical condition and two people remain in serious condition. Meanwhile, the other two victims were discharged from the hospital.
"A group of people gathered in the courtyard, a second group of people confronted them as a result gunfire ensued and now we have five people confirmed in the hospital," said Fort Lauderdale Chief of Police Patrick Lynn.
Police said Chief Lynn and Chief Alvarez, of our Investigations Bureau, visited the apartment complex today to talk to residents and express our concern for the violent shooting that occurred. As Chief Lynn stated to media last night, "all resources of the police department have been deployed to determine the cause of this incident and identify the suspects involved."
FLPD also said they will continue to provide an increased police presence in the area.
"We are also working with several agencies to provide critical incident support to our community to help them make sense of what they may have experienced following a traumatic incident," police said,
A woman who has lived at the apartment complex for four years said this was the result of an ongoing feud between a group of young men from the complex and a group of young men from another complex.
"I just heard a lot of shooting so I ran outside to get my son. When I ran out everybody was just running all over. And then a couple of guys, like three of them, were running from around the corner. There were like 'Oh, I'm shot, oh I'm shot'. It's scary and I'm just ready to move. This is ridiculous, we can't even let our kids outside and feel safe. Cause every day it's just shooting, you're scared to let your kids outside," she said.
She said one of those shot was a 15-year-old boy who is the son of one of her friends. She said he was shot in the leg and neighbors worked together to try to stop the bleeding before he was taken to the hospital.
As of Thursday afternoon, no arrests had been made.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call Fort Lauderdale Police at 954-828-5581 or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS (8477).