FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A toddler was shot on Sunday afternoon during a children’s party in a public park in Fort Lauderdale.
Crime scene tape surrounded a shaded playground and picnic area on the northern edge of the Riverland Park & Pool. The yellow tape extended to Southwest Ninth Street, near 26 Avenue.
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Sesame-street-themed party decorations in primary colors filled the picnic area. Tiny chairs surrounded a red table. A background for photos and an arch with balloons tumbled down.
The disarray was what was left of the sudden panic that ensued during a drive-by shooting.
According to Detective Ali Adamson, a spokeswoman for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, police officers first responded shortly after 4:30 p.m. and found the 2-year-old victim injured.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue personnel rushed the child as a trauma alert to the Broward Health Medical Center. Relatives waited for updates outside of the emergency area.
Back at the park, Fort Lauderdale police officers were looking around inside the fenced playground after the shooting. Detectives were talking to a man and a woman.
The shooting was near athletic fields and pools. It was also near the Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Station 47, the Riverland Elementary School, and the Our Lady Queen of Martyrs School.
Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.
Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Mercedes Cevallos and Photojournalist Matthew Leach contributed to this report.