Eight shot, one critical at MLK Car Show and block party at Fort Pierce park

(Updated 11:00 a.m. 01/17/2023) WPTV just announced that one of the shooting victims has died. The shooting investigation is now a murder investigation.

New headline should read “Eight shot, one dead at MLK Car Show and block party at Fort Pierce park“.

Nikkitia Bryant, 29, was a cosmetologist from Fort Pierce who was at the MLK event with her 9-year-old daughter.

Her brother tells us that she was standing at a food truck when she was shot in the stomach. pic.twitter.com/fJmxP2MUlm

— Jossie Carbonare WPBF25 (@wpbf_jossie) January 18, 2023

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Ace News Today’s original article from earlier in the day appears below in its entirety:

On a day honoring the memory of a man who dedicated his life to peace and civil rights, gunfire rang out at the Florida-based “MLK Car Show & Fam ily Fun Day” at Fort Pierce’s Ilous Ellis Park on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  The shooting started at 5:20 p.m. according to the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office after an altercation broke out between two parties.  When the shooting ended at the crowded car show and block party, eight people were confirmed to be hit by the spray of bullets.

8 people #shot over "disagreement of some sort" at an #MLKDay2023 event in #FtPierce, #Florida, @StLucieSheriff's office says
Updates on 7 not in critical condition weren't provided.
Unclear if anybody was in custody or if suspect or suspects identified.https://t.co/foZe2R7fo3

— Liz Goldenberg (@newstruthliz) January 17, 2023

An estimated 1,500 people were attending the event when the shooting started. The eight shooting victims were all transported to the hospital with one of them listed in critical condition, according to MSN

“Today, Chief Deputy Hester and I were honored to be in the Martin Luther King Jr. parade along Martin Luther King Blvd. Sadly, within hours of that parade ending, we are investigating a shooting in a county park located at Avenue M and 13th Street in which 8 people have been shot,” said Sheriff Ken Mascara.

“As the shots rang out, people were just running in all directions,” Hester said. “There were people laying behind cars, laying behind anything they could lay behind. It was kind of hard to tell who was a victim and who was just hiding at that point.” ~ CNN

All of the gunshot victims were adults. In addition to the eight people shot, four other event-goers were injured trying to escape the carnage.  One of those four was a child, according to CBS News in South Florida.

As of this writing, there have been no arrests made in the shootings.

Law enforcement officials are asking anyone with any information related to the shootings to please contact detectives or call Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-800-273-8477.

For more on the nation’s most recent mass shooting, see the video accompanying this article.

(Source: St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office)

Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today   /   Follow Richard on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram