DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The first weekend of spring break in Daytona Beach devolved into chaos, local officials said, after a pop-up event on the beach drew large, unsanctioned crowds and multiple shootings in the city.
Sheriff Mike Chitwood said 133 people were arrested on the sand during the first weekend of spring break. He said the unrest started on the beach and then spilled over into the city.
“You have an unsanctioned event run by social media, my estimate was somewhere probably close to 9,000 people, maybe even 10,000 people,” said Chitwood.
The sheriff said law enforcement arrested several people carrying guns but that there were no shootings on the sand, despite a viral video of crowds running. He said people started running after people popped water bottles to make a shooting sound.
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He noted the county’s responsibility for law enforcement on the beach and said once people moved onto the blacktop, they were in city limits.
“Our job is law enforcement on the beach, so that is county jurisdiction. My jurisdiction,” said the sheriff.
When crowds moved off the sand, authorities said the situation grew more chaotic. Daytona Beach police are investigating four separate shootings from Saturday night - two were beachside and two were mainland.
The sheriff said law enforcement was aware the event could pop up and that the city could have requested a special event zone to bring in more resources and increase penalties for violations.
“The reasons it wasn’t declared is they didn’t want it last weekend because I can declare a special event zone, but if they’re not going to enforce it, you’re sending a message, ‘hey they’re not enforcing it,’” said Sheriff Chitwood.
The sheriff said he would not have enacted the special event zone without the city’s support if it didn’t want it.
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City Commissioner Stacy Cantu said commissioners received no notice before the weekend and wished the city had put extra resources, like a zone, in place.
“Usually, if something is going on, we get an email blast letting us know that this event’s going on, this is happening, and we received no communication about this whatsoever,” said Cantu.
The sheriff said he hopes the city will request a special event zone for the upcoming weekend. Daytona Beach police declined interview requests, and the city manager did not respond to requests for comment.