HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Police arrested two suspects they said were involved in a Memorial Day mass shooting along the Hollywood Broadwalk; officers continued to look for three others believed to be involved.
Two people involved in the altercation that led to the shooting, Morgan Deslouches and Keshawn Paul Stewart, have been arrested on firearms charges, police said. Both men are 18 and live in Hollywood and Dania Beach, respectively.
Five handguns have been recovered, with one of them reported stolen in the Miami area and another in Texas, they said.
The other three suspects are believed to be the gunmen.
The shooting happened shortly before 7 p.m. along the Hollywood Broadwalk between Johnson Street and Garfield Street.
According to police, a dispute between two groups led to the gunfire.
Surveillance video showing two suspects and a crowd of people running away was released early Tuesday morning.
An eyewitness said he saw several young men fighting in front of the stores lining the Broadwalk when one pulled out a gun and started shooting.
Authorities said the nine victims were taken to both Memorial Regional Hospital and Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. Four of the victims were children between the ages of 1 and 17. The other five ranged in age from 25 to 65.
A good Samaritan recounted helping one of the victims and described the chaotic scene.
“All hell broke loose, gunshots fired, everybody scattered and running,” Sean Bennett said. “It’s hard to talk. I’m kind of still processing everything.”
Bennett didn’t run away. Instead he raced to help a 15-year-old that he saw hurt who was suffering from two gunshot wounds, one in the chest and one in the stomach.
“(I) rolled him over slowly and helped compress to slow down the bleeding in his chest,” Bennett said. “Basically we were telling him to just breathe, just keep his eyes open and say less, less talk basically to keep his energy up.”
Officials said Tuesday that all four of the children shot remained in the hospital while two adult victims also remained hospitalized. All of the victims were stable, authorities said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.