Boy, 3, is killed when gunfire erupts at child’s birthday party in Florida park
Witnesses said the child was on the slide when the violence broke out
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A three-year-old boy died after gunfire broke out at a Florida birthday party, fatally striking him as he played on a park slide.
The child was attending the party at Riverland Park in Fort Lauderdale when the gunfire erupted on Sunday afternoon. Police said several people in two cars were involved in the incident, but it’s unclear if they were shooting at each other or someone at the park, WSVN reported. It’s not known if someone has been arrested in connection with the shooting.
The child was transported to the Broward Health Medical Center, where he died just after 11pm.
“I feel so bad for the parents because I know their heart is very hurt just coming out here just to enjoy what somebody had put forth for kids,” a neighbor told the TV station. It’s thought that dozens of kids were attending the event when the child was shot.
“They had a bounce house, and they had set up for the pavilion down there,” Luis Smith, an area resident told the outlet. “Everything was normal, everything was normal.”
Another resident added: “It’s just sad that our people can’t get together and reason. As the word says, ‘come let us reason together,’ It don’t have to be killing. It don’t have to be violence, just get together and find a way to solve things without the gun violence.”
One woman who spoke to the outlet said she had just left the park and returned to the news of the shooting.
“I’m just shocked at this right now. I never would have thought to say, ‘Hey, it’s raining. Let’s just go, we’ll come back when it’s not,’ and then you come back to this,” she said. “To know that someone got shot, especially a child, and I have my son here.
“I’m just shocked at this right now. I never would have thought to say, ‘Hey, it’s raining. Let’s just go, we’ll come back when it’s not,’ and then you come back to this,” she said.
An investigation is ongoing.