CLEARWATER — A 17-year-old was shot and wounded May 31 as hundreds of teenagers descended on Clearwater Beach in a social media-driven gathering that police had been preparing for since earlier in the day.
The shooting happened about 5:15 p.m. on Coronado Drive, near Pier 60, according to a statement from the city of Clearwater. Officers found the teen with injuries that were not life-threatening and took him to Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital.
Police detained several people for questioning, and others scattered as officers moved in. Investigators canvassed area hospitals for additional victims.
Clearwater Deputy Police Chief Michael Walek said several people were in custody May 31 but would not say whether the shooter was among them. The names and ages of those detained were not released.
The gunfire was one flashpoint in a chaotic night. Walek said reports of large crowds and fights surfaced at other spots along the beach after the shooting. Officers sealed off parts of the south beach using a traffic plan the department normally reserves for the Fourth of July. The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and Largo Police Department sent help.
Walek said the department’s Threat Management Unit had tracked the planned gathering and positioned officers for a crowd. Asked whether it qualified as a “teen takeover,” he didn’t quibble. “You can phrase it however you want,” he said. “Teen takeover, meetup — it’s all organized through social media.”
The label has become familiar in Florida this spring. On May 8, Tampa police arrested 22 people ages 12 to 21 after a gathering at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park spilled into downtown streets; officers seized two guns. In March, eight juveniles were arrested at an Urban Air trampoline park in Brandon. A takeover at Orlando’s ICON Park last month drew an estimated 1,000 people and left two deputies hurt.
Walek cast May 31 as an aberration.
“Clearwater Beach is family-friendly, it’s safe,” he said. “This is a bunch of kids acting like kids, and I’m telling you, it will not happen again.”
He had a more blunt message for anyone thinking of coming back.
“This is the first weekend of summer here at Clearwater Beach,” he said. “I want to send a very, very clear message to anyone who plans to come here and engage in the kind of behavior we saw this evening: Don’t do it. If you do, your trip to the beach will end up with a trip to jail.”