Gunfire kills high schooler at Halloween party, Florida cops say. Search is on for shooter
A high school student is dead after a shooting at a Halloween party, and authorities are searching for the shooter, a Florida sheriff’s office said.
Shots were fired after an argument at a Halloween house party in Thonotosassa at around 2:15 a.m. on Nov. 1, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
Deputies found one male student with a gunshot wound at the scene of the party, the release says. He was taken to a hospital, where he is in stable condition.
Deputies then found a second victim, a female student, at a nearby gas station, according to the sheriff’s office. She was taken to a hospital, but died from her injuries.
The sheriff’s office did not identify either student.
Deputies are searching for the shooter, the release says. Detectives do not yet know if the suspect and the victims knew each other, but they said there is no threat to the public.
The female student attended Bloomingdale Senior High School, a public school in Valrico, about 15 miles from where the party took place. Thonotosassa is about 15 miles northeast of downtown Tampa.
In a statement, Hillsborough County Schools said that grief counselors would be available to students.
Bloomingdale High School serves grades 9-12 and with nearly 2,300 students enrolled, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Florida state Rep. Andrew Learned, who represents Brandon and East Hillsborough counties, said in a statement that “disaster struck” at the Halloween party.
“Gun violence seems abstract until it claims one of our own,” he wrote in the statement on Facebook. “... I’m so sorry for the family, friends, and the entire Bloomingdale community. We have too many guns, in too many irresponsible hands, with too much violent rhetoric swirling around. It’s a recipe for disaster.”
This story was originally published November 1, 2022 at 11:04 AM with the headline "Gunfire kills high schooler at Halloween party, Florida cops say. Search is on for shooter."