Ron DeSantis Responds To Halloween Weekend Shooting That Killed 2 In Ybor City

Topline

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has offered “all available resources” to Tampa police after Halloween festivities in Ybor City turned deadly in a shooting that killed two and injured at least 18 others, a tragedy that comes less than a year after the state passed a law allowing gun owners to carry without a state permit.

Ron DeSantis speaks during the California Republican Party (CAGOP) Fall 2023 Convention in Anaheim, … [+] California, on September 29, 2023.

AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

DeSantis on Sunday posted to X that he has been in “constant contact” with the state department of law enforcements and has offered state resources to local officers about the shooting that local news outlets say left a 14-year-old and one other person, age 22, dead.

A 22-year-old man was arrested and charged with second degree murder in the wake of the shooting and police have since said that one of the two guns recovered was stolen, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

DeSantis, also a Republican presidential candidate, appeared on NBC’s Meet The Press Sunday morning and spoke about last week’s shooting in Lewiston, Maine, saying he thinks law enforcement should “be more aggressive” in institutionalizing people with serious mental health issues.

When asked if he was in support of stronger background checks for potential gun owners, DeSantis said such processes could be “weaponized against people that the government doesn’t like.”

DeSantis said he does not think red flag laws like Florida has—which allow states to take away guns from people believed to be dangerous—are necessary and that he “does not believe in this idea that you can just take someone’s property and then go through due process later.”

DeSantis was not asked about the Tampa shooting on Meet The Press.

Key Background

The Tampa neighborhood of Ybor City’s Halloween festivities were disrupted when two fighting groups pulled out guns and started shooting with “hundreds of innocent people” in the way early Sunday morning, police said. Two people were fatally shot and 18 were hurt although not all those injured were hit by gunfire—injuries included those hurt in a stampede to escape the scene that included people toppling metal tables and taking cover behind them, ABC News reported. Tampa Bay Mayor Jane Castor told reporters that Tampa is not an inherently dangerous city, but pushed for changes to gun laws that would prevent such shootings, according to the Tampa Bay Times. DeSantis is a generally pro-gun politician who supported a piece of legislation that allows gun owners to carry firearms in Florida without a state permit, a law that went into effect this March days after a school shooting in Nashville killed three children. Several elected officials in Florida, including Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried and Florida Rep. Lindsay Cross, a Democrat, have called on Congress to pass more gun laws since the Tampa shooting, Politico reported.

Crucial Quote

“Bad decisions made in a split second and the proliferation of readily available guns are responsible for these almost daily incidents. We can affect one half of this equation,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said on X.

Big Number

7. That’s how many people were killed in a series of Halloween weekend shootings across the country, in addition to dozens more that were injured. In addition to the Tampa shooting, people were killed or hurt in shootings in Indiana, Florida, Kansas and Illinois.

Tangent

The Gun Violence Archive, which tracks mass shootings in which four or more people were killed or injured, not including the assailant, says 35 people have died in mass shootings so far this year in Florida. In 2022, 21 people died in mass shootings in the states and 27 died in 2021.