Photo: Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images
A 7-year-old boy of Latino origin was fatally shot on Tuesday, July 4 after a shootout broke out over a personal watercraft dispute in Tampa, Florida.
Calvin Johnson, deputy chief of investigations for the Tampa Police Department, said at a news conference Wednesday that officers responded to a shooting just after 8:30 p.m. boat ramp off the Courtney Campbell Causeway west of Ben T. Davis Beach.
Witnesses told authorities the dispute arose because a group of people complained about citizens riding jet skis near the shoreline where children were playing.
When the citizens who were on the motorcycles came out of the water the discussion escalated and that’s when someone opened fire.
Johnson recounted that when the shooting began, the grandfather of the young man who was shot took him and put him in a pickup truck. However, once inside the vehiclea projectile entered the interior of the car, hitting the grandfather on the finger and the child on the head.
The boy, who was identified by his grandparents as Yitzian Torres García, was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Yitzian’s grandfather, Juan Carlos Mejía, told WFLA that he was trying to protect the boy inside the vehicle, so he placed his hands on his head.
“When I felt the shot in my hand, I turned to look at my grandson and he turned his head,” Mejía said.
Yitzian, of Latino origin, was visiting his grandparents from New Jersey and planned to watch the Fourth of July fireworks on the beach.
“He didn’t kill an animal, he killed a human being, a baby that was beginning to live that had nothing to do with his fights, with weapons or anything, we are suffering, we lost a life,” said grandmother Marisol Ayala.
Witnesses described the scene as two groups of hispanic men shooting each otherand each other, police said.
Johnson told reporters Wednesday that he was “very angry” at the recklessness of those who know of the damage created by gun violence but shoot “indiscriminately.”
“We need to do better as a community. Really, like Americans. We see everyone across the country, including Tampa, the first thing to jump out is guns. There is a better way to deal with whatever you are going through than to go to that firearm,” he said.
“Once someone is gone, they won’t come back,” he added.
The suspects fled the beach and homicide detectives are working to determine their identities.Johnson said.
The department urges anyone with knowledge of the shooting to contact police directly or submit an anonymous tip to the Crimestoppers hotline at 800-873-8477.
Showdown in Fort Lauderdale
One day after the unfortunate event in Tampa, a shootout inside an apartment complex in Fort Lauderdale, a city about 35 kilometers from Miami (Florida), left at least five people injured.
Fort Lauderdale police said they received reports of gunshots in the area of Northwest 19th Street and 29th Avenue around 8:40 p.m. Wednesday.
Upon arrival at the apartment complex, officers found 5 injured people, two of them minors. A witness told Telemundo 51 that one of the victims was around 15 years old.
The five injured in the confrontation were transferred to Broward Health Medical Center. One of the adults sustained life-threatening injuries, while the others sustained various injuries that appear not to be life-threatening at this time, according to police.
Keep reading:
• Shooting confrontation between two groups in Florida left at least five injured
• Shooting in Philadelphia leaves 4 dead and 2 wounded; police report suspect in custody
• Shootings in Texas and Pennsylvania leave 8 dead hours before Independence Day celebrations