Gunfire disrupts anti-violence rally at crowded Boynton Beach park, wounding three women
About 500 people, many of them children, attended the rally at Sara Sims Park. It called for an end to gun violence, but organizers did not obtain a permit before staging the event, police said.
The initial investigation showed that rival gang members began firing at each other, catching attendees in the crossfire, police said. Officers found one woman suffering from a gunshot wound to her femur. Dispatchers reported that two other women went to hospitals in private vehicles, one with a gunshot wound to her leg and the other with a wound to her hip.
Bullets also struck several vehicles, both occupied and unoccupied, and other victims sustained minor injuries and received treatment at hospitals or at the scene from Boynton Beach Fire Rescue.
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Investigators say the event's organizer reportedly submitted a special events application on June 17 to Boynton Beach to host an event titled "Stop Violence Awareness" for about 20 attendees at Sara Sims Park, on Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. Boulevard west of Seacrest Boulevard.
One week later, the Recreation and Parks Department notified the organizer that the permit had been denied. The city refunded the organizer's money the same day, which the organizer acknowledged via email, police said.
City documents show that a suburban Lake Worth Beach woman applied for the permit. Attempts to reach her for comment on July 8 were not successful. The city documents also show that a Boynton Beach police captain advised against approving the permit due to staffing concerns related to the Fourth of July holiday.
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A department spokesperson said the organizer likely won't face any citations. To date, police have not announced any arrests in connection to the shooting incident.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Sean Steele by emailing SteeleS@bbfl.us or by calling 561-742-6148.
Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Three women shot during anti-gun-violence rally at Boynton Beach park
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