Bullets flew into a crowd spending Memorial Day at the beach in Hollywood, shattering any illusion of safety along the family-friendly Broadwalk.
Nine people, including a 16-month-old boy, were hit. Somehow, all survived. But the damage was done.
Hollywood has now joined the long list of American cities where innocents have been struck by gunfire.
In the days following the May 29 shooting, residents appealed to the city to do something to make things safer at the beach for both locals and tourists.
Citing that concern, Commissioner Caryl Shuham suggested moving this year’s Fourth of July fireworks show from the beach to another spot.
“This event only brings more people to the beach,” she said. “I think we should talk to the businesses in the area. Is this something they still want? It’s just out of control. I think going forward this is an event we need to think long and hard about.”
But the idea, presented during a recent City Hall meeting, was quickly rejected by Mayor Josh Levy and the rest of the commission.
“We’ve had July Fourth on the beach for I don’t know how many decades,” Levy said. “People are going to come to the beach whether we have fireworks or not. I don’t think taking away the national holiday is the answer.”
Commissioner Traci Callari also urged against making decisions based on fear.
“We are better than that,” she said. “We can be anywhere and be victims of gun violence. It can happen anywhere. To stop something that’s become a tradition in Hollywood would be sending the wrong message.”
In light of the recent shooting, Hollywood is already making changes to address concerns about beach safety.
At the end of Wednesday’s public meeting, commissioners held a special closed meeting with the police chief, fire chief, city manager and beach safety chief to discuss what can be done to tighten security at the Broadwalk.
The next day, Police Chief Chris O’Brien posted a tweet sharing the steps being taken to secure the public’s safety.
“We are committed to doing everything we can to make sure the shooting that occurred on Memorial Day is something that people will never experience again on our beach,” O’Brien wrote.
To that end, the Hollywood Police Department is taking the following measures:
- Additional officers are being deployed on the beach.
- Officers will use utility terrain vehicles, patrol cars, electric bicycles and foot patrols to cover larger areas of the beach and Broadwalk.
- A modified staffing schedule of police officers, together with an additional team of security guards, will provide greater coverage for peak crowd times.
- The Parking Division and Code Enforcement will join a central beach command post at the beach.
- Enhanced surveillance technologies, including additional CCTV cameras and License Plate Readers, will be expanded on the beach and citywide to bolster crime prevention, detection and investigation.
Daniel Kennedy, a longtime resident who lives along the Broadwalk, says he welcomes the beefed up security.
“Light them up. The more cameras the better,” he said. “We have too much bad stuff going on right now.”
Kennedy was out of the country when the shooting took place, but says his phone started blowing up with text messages from friends sharing the bad news.
Kennedy says he gets the idea of moving fireworks off the beach but isn’t sure it would do much good.
“We’re going to have people come here with or without fireworks because we’re the beach,” he said. “They’re coming here anyway. Every weekend we’re packed and there’s no fireworks. I do believe the crowds coming now are looking for trouble. The more cameras, the better.”
One business owner on the Broadwalk bristled at the mention of moving the Fourth of July fireworks off the beach.
“That would cost the businesses a lot of money if they canceled the fireworks on the beach,” said Bob Ferro, owner of Nick’s Bar & Grill. “I think it’s a stupid idea.”
Ferro says he’s not at all worried about bullets flying.
“They’re not going to start shooting people again at the beach,” he said. “That shooting was an isolated incident that will never happen again. That was a gang. It was a freak thing. If they were at Young Circle, it would have happened there.”
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com or on Twitter @Susannah_Bryan