A 19-year-old was killed and six others injured in an overnight shooting during what police described as a teen takeover in downtown Pensacola, Florida, on the Fourth of July.
Phillip Devon Monte Sheppard Jr. was killed in the shooting, Pensacola Police Chief Eric Winstrom said at a Monday news conference.
The teen takeover, police said, began with children as young as middle schoolers holding fireworks, but older teens and young adults filled the streets Saturday night and into Sunday morning.
Officers, per CNN, responded when shots were fired shortly after 1 a.m. and began providing medical care to the injured victims on the ground, Winstrom said at a news conference Sunday.
Sheppard was pronounced dead at the scene.
Five of the six injured, ranging in age from 16 to 26, have been released from the hospital. The sixth is expected to recover fully.
Officials said at least two weapons were fired during the shooting and believe the motive was related to an ongoing feud.
Winstrom said, per WEAR, nine arrests were made in the hours prior to the shooting — all between the ages of 14 to 22. Police responded to over 20 fights.
Police believe some of the individuals involved have “known gang connections,” but Winstrom stopped short of calling them gang members.
“Regardless of what the content of this feud is, which the detectives are looking into it, I don’t think it’s going to be anything that you, or I or a member of the public would think would justify the death of a 19-year-old man who had his whole life ahead of him,” he said, per CNN.
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