Two dead and six injured in shooting in downtown Orlando amid Halloween celebrations

Two people were killed and six wounded in a shooting in downtown Orlando, Florida, amid the Halloween festivities, several local media reported Friday, adding that a teenage suspect had been arrested.

People in Halloween costumes were in the area of ​​the incident as emergency personnel tended to victims lying in the street, a video posted on Instagram, verified by Reuters, showed.

The injured people were taken to hospital and are stable, local media said.

The shooting occurred late at night on Thursday, October 31, in Orlando’s entertainment district, where hundreds of people were celebrating Halloween.

Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said at a news conference that the alleged gunman, a 17-year-old, had been arrested, reported.

He is being interviewed by detectives, Chief Smith said.

“He basically walked into the center, went out into the street and did what he did,” local American media outlet Fox 13 Tampa Bay said, quoting the police chief.

The Orlando Police Department had previously said in an X post that it was conducting an investigation into the shooting in downtown Orlando. The department did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

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