ORLANDO, Fla. – The Orlando Police Department is asking for help in the ongoing search for the person who opened fire on a crowd early Sunday and injured at least seven people.
In a news release, police asked for witnesses in the shooting to come forward by calling 911 or contacting Crimeline to provide an anonymous tip by texting or dialing **8477(TIPS).
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More than 24 hours after the gunfire, patrol cars were seen near the area of the downtown shooting at South Orange Avenue and Wall Street Plaza.
According to Orlando police, a large fight broke out at 2:22 a.m. Sunday as bars and restaurants were closing.
During the melee, police said someone pulled out a handgun and began shooting into the crowd.
Downtown patrol officers responded to the shooting and reported a total of seven people hurt. Six were taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center and one was self-transported to AdventHealth, police said.
During a news conference, Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said investigators didn’t have any information about the shooter.
“We don’t have a description yet. We’re still in the preliminary stages of the investigation,” Smith said.
Video posted on YouTube shows dozens of people running after hearing gunshots along South Orange Avenue.
Williom Soloman was in the crowd and spoke to News 6 about the ordeal.
“I ran and everyone fled and all I saw was a bunch of dispersed people, everyone going crazy,” Soloman said. “If it happened in the heart of downtown, I don’t know if anything is safe nowadays.”
Chief Smith said Orlando police have increased safety measures and resources in the area.
“We have a large number of officers who are present, but we’re always looking at ways to better protect our public, so we’ll be looking at this incident,” Smith said. “We’ll learn from this incident and see if we need to change something with deployment.”
Orlando police said the shooting is still an active investigation and another update would be provided as more information is gathered.
Police are asking people to submit pictures or video from the incident to the agency’s evidence portal.