US: 1 killed, 6 injured in mass shooting after July 4 celebrations in Florida

A 19-year-old man was killed and six others were injured in a mass shooting in downtown Pensacola, Florida, early Sunday after Independence Day celebrations, police said.

Authorities believe the shooting was targeted and not a random attack. No arrests have been made so far.

Police said officers responded to reports of gunfire at around 1:20 am near the intersection of Palafox and Intendencia streets, where a large crowd had gathered following the July 4 fireworks display.

Responding officers found multiple victims with gunshot wounds and immediately began providing first aid. Despite efforts to revive the 19-year-old victim through CPR, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The six injured victims, aged between 16 and 26, were taken to nearby hospitals. Police said all are expected to survive.

More from World

Large crowd of teenagers gathered downtown

Pensacola Police Chief Eric Winstrom said hundreds of teenagers and young adults had gathered in the downtown area for what he described as a "teen takeover." He added that many in the crowd were children as young as middle school age without adult supervision.

Police had deployed around 50 additional officers in anticipation of large Independence Day crowds. Before the shooting, officers had already made several arrests for unrelated incidents, including a juvenile accused of setting off fireworks into the crowd.

Police say attack appears targeted

Chief Winstrom said preliminary findings suggest the shooting was aimed at specific individuals rather than being a random act of violence.

"We believe that it was targeted. We don't believe it was a random act at all from the very preliminary investigation that we had," he said.

Investigators are reviewing evidence and speaking with witnesses and nearby businesses to determine exactly what happened.

Investigation continues

Police are still trying to establish how many shots were fired and whether more than one person was involved in the attack.

Winstrom said the gunfire sounded like a "volley of fire" and estimated investigators could find that between 10 and 20 or more rounds had been fired.

Detectives, forensic teams and the medical examiner remained at the scene on Sunday as the investigation continued.