2 dead, 6 injured in Halloween celebration shootings in downtown Orlando

Early Friday, while thousands of people enjoyed the city's Halloween celebrations, a shooting occurred in downtown Orlando, Florida, leaving two people dead and at least six more injured, according to authorities.

Authorities detained a 17-year-old man who they believe was responsible for the shooting. The victims' ages varied from 18 to 39, according to authorities, but no motive has been found as of yet, and the identities of those slain and injured have not been made public.

Later, the ages of the two dead victims were determined to be 19 and 25. As the mob rushed from the shooting scene, a 26-year-old lady was injured from being trampled underfoot, and six other people were wounded.

Jaylen Dwayne Edgar, 17, was named as the suspect. Edgar was arrested for grand theft the previous year. According to police Friday afternoon, the adolescent was charged with two counts of first-degree murder with a firearm and six counts of attempted first-degree murder with a handgun.

Grand theft, for which he was earlier arrested in 2023, is still under investigation.

along a press conference early Friday, Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith reported that bullets were fired along Central Boulevard and Orange Avenue shortly after one in the morning, and that further shots were fired nearby minutes later.

Orlando Medical Center received the injured for treatment. According to the police, everyone was in stable condition.

During a press conference on Friday afternoon, Smith stated that the suspect has not cooperated with law enforcement. The reason he was out so late and how he got the gun are still being investigated.

The reason he allegedly opened fire was likewise not immediately apparent. Although it's unknown if the suspect knew the victims, Smith stated that he is thought to be the lone shooter.

"We had about 100 officers who are working the detail, spread out," Smith told reporters, adding: "The officers responded very quickly, the officers did a great job. They responded right when they heard the shooting. You know, everybody else is running, they're not: They're sitting in position looking for a shooter. They found the shooter."

“Halloween is one of our busiest nights of the year,” Smith said, adding anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 people can gather for the celebration.

Checkpoints and gun-sniffing dogs, which were utilized in prior years to screen attendees for weapons during the downtown Halloween festival, were not feasible this year because to a 2023 state legislation that permits the majority of individuals to carry concealed firearms without a permit, Smith said.

“When the law changed, basically you can carry on a public street as long as you meet certain criteria,” he said.

At a news conference on Friday afternoon, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer declared that he would be imposing a local state of emergency, which would ban the sale of alcohol in downtown Orlando restaurants after midnight. A curfew will be enforced between 1 and 5 a.m., he said.

"We don't make this decision lightly and we pursued a number of measures before reaching this point," Dyer said, adding: "We want a downtown that is fun and vibrant but we have experienced lately brazen criminals are willing to come downtown and shoot and kill innocent victims right in front of our police officers."

Dyer said, “It’s unfortunate that the changes in the state’s concealed weapons laws have made it even easier for people to carry guns and bring guns downtown.”

Attorney Andrew Bain stated that authorities are debating whether to charge the suspect as an adult.

“Obviously, from the multiple victims and the brazen nature of the crime, there are several aggravating factors that would fit inside the matrix to charge him as an adult,” Bain said.