1 dead, 4 injured in shooting at ZombiCon in Florida

One person was killed and five others were injured when a shooting broke out at the annual ZombiCon festival in Fort Myers, Florida.

CNN identified the deceased as 20-year-old Expavious Tyrell Taylor of Okeechobee, Florida, citing a spokesman from the Fort Myers Police Department.

Our thoughts are with the victims and their families and loved ones. But as shots were fired, a mass of desperate people pushed against locked doors trying to enter the barber shop.

Taylor, the lone fatality, was listed as a student at ASA College, a junior college in Miami.

The annual event brings zombie-themed activities, including music and performance artists, to the streets of Fort Myers, according to its website. Four people were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, while a fifth person who was injured declined medical assistance.

“I was right here”, said Jill Stancel, the daughter of the owner of a barber shop near the shooting. “There are people dressed up and a few walking around with guns”, she said. Investigators now analyze surveillance videos in their effort to find the suspect/s.

The organizers of the event, Pushing DaiZies, Inc, have released a statement expressing their deep sadness about what transpired this weekend.

The mayor’s office appealed to festival-goers to help in the investigation.

ZombiCon organizers posted on Facebook that they are “deeply saddened” by what happened and that they take the safety of their patrons very seriously.

ZombiCon has been a popular event for almost a decade, but a few residents and business owners haven’t welcomed the crowd of costumed revelers in the street dressed as limping, bloated, degrading corpses. “Quarantined. No Zombies allowed”, the notice read. She said footage from those cameras had been given to police. “Sadly, we’re moving in that direction”. Police did not indicate whether they believed the victims were targeted or whether the shooting was directly related to the event.