An evening of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations ended with one person dead and two others injured in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, on Sunday, police said.
Police continued to search for what they believe may be more than one shooter in the violence in a nightlife district of downtown Jacksonville Beach teeming with holiday celebrants and spring breakers, a city police spokesperson, Sgt. Tonya Tator, said at a makeshift news conference.
Mayor Christine Hoffman said that the violence may be the result of separate incidents but that the root of it was still a matter of active investigation.
“There were several different incidents that were … potentially unrelated,” she said at a separate news conference. “So we want to know as much as we can find out.”
Tator said the injured were stabilized at medical facilities. Information about the two, as well as about the deceased, such as age and gender, was not available.
The violence was at first described as an active shooter incident, although there did not appear to be subsequent reports of shots fired.
Though many of the night’s patrons were at bars and restaurants, the violence took place “out in the open,” Tater said.
NBC affiliate WJXT of Jacksonville reported that authorities shut down the nightlife district for the evening as detectives continue their probe. Tater said the city’s beachfront was also closed in response to the violence.
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