By Raja Razek , CNN
(CNN) — Two people are dead and 18 others were injured in a shooting after a “fight between two groups” broke out in the street early Sunday morning in Tampa, Florida, police said.
Officers were present when the incident happened in Tampa’s Ybor City neighborhood just before 3 a.m., Lee Bercaw, Tampa’s police chief, said in a Sunday morning news conference.
As hundreds of people filed out of Ybor City’s bars and nightclubs, a lively Saturday night soon turned deadly. It was one of several shootings that took place amid celebrations across the country this weekend ahead of Halloween.
“People were out on Saturday night. It’s three o’clock, the bars let out, there’s hundreds in the street,” Bercaw said.
Authorities believe there were at least two shooters involved.
It’s not yet clear whether all 18 people injured in the incident suffered gunshot wounds or other injuries.
The Tampa Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is on the scene to assist with the investigation, the agency said in a statement on X Sunday afternoon.
“It is tragic what happened here, that families have to wake up and see on the news what happened here tonight,” Bercaw said.
Authorities said they know there was a “disturbance or issue between the two groups,” and one unidentified male who they believe was involved in the incident, has “turned himself in, and detectives are interviewing him now.” They are also asking people for help by providing tips and videos.
“This is a very complicated scene but what we know, at this point, it was a disturbance or a fight between two groups,” adding “in this fight between two groups, we had hundreds of innocent people involved that were in the way,” Bercaw said.
“We’re going to hold those accountable and we are going to bring them to justice, but we need the cooperation of the community for that, and that is our ask,” he added.
When asked if authorities suspect this incident to be gang-related, the police chief said, “At this point, it is early in the investigation, so that will be part of our investigation.”
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said 50 Tampa police officers were deployed to the area when the shooting took place.
“Lives lost and others forever changed. To what end?” Mayor Castor said in a statement on X. “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.”
CNN’s Sara Smart and Lauren Mascarenhas contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire
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