Drive-by shooting in West Cocoa injures toddler; suspects at large

Drive-by shooting in West Cocoa injures toddler

A shootout erupted Tuesday afternoon in a crowded Cocoa grocery store parking lot, leaving a 2-year-old girl wounded after she was caught in the crossfire.

WEST COCOA, Fla. - A shootout erupted Tuesday afternoon in a crowded Cocoa grocery store parking lot, leaving a 2-year-old girl wounded after she was caught in the crossfire.

What we know:

A shooting incident took place outside Cocoa Meat & Produce on South Burnett Road in West Cocoa on Tuesday afternoon.

Investigators say three men jumped out of a black Mercedes and opened fire on another man who was with a woman pushing a stroller.

That toddler, seated in the stroller, was struck in the pelvis by one of the more than 50 rounds fired during the exchange. She was rushed to Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando and underwent surgery. She is expected to survive.

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Deputies and crime scene teams are investigating an incident in West Cocoa.

Surveillance video shows a black Mercedes pulling into the parking lot of a neighborhood grocery store in Cocoa. Three men jump out of the car and a shootout ensues between the three men and another man who was with a woman pushing a stroller with the 2-year-old girl sitting inside.

The woman ran to seek cover but returned to find the child had been shot.

The man with the little girl was taken into custody, but the three men from the Mercedes — described as wearing a white tank top, a black tank top, and a blue t-shirt — took off running and remain at large.

What we don't know:

Authorities have not released the identities of the suspects or confirmed whether the shooting was targeted. Authorities have yet to determine who fired the first shot or what sparked the shootout.

Surveillance video shows bystanders in the area, but Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey says no one has come forward with information.

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Brevard County Sheriff's Office released surveillance images of the suspects. Source: BCSO

It's also unclear what relationship, if any, exists between the shooters and the man being targeted. The woman who fled during the shooting and left the baby behind has not been publicly identified, and her role in the incident remains under investigation.

The backstory:

Cocoa Meat & Produce is a well-frequented spot in the community, and the shooting unfolded while numerous people, including families, were in the parking lot.

Witnesses described chaos as gunfire erupted in broad daylight. This location, and the surrounding area of West Cocoa, has experienced intermittent criminal activity, though not often involving this scale of violence in a public space.

What they're saying:

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey says the shooting happened in a crowded parking lot.

"These individuals don't care about anything, they are evil, and they are not only putting a toddler at risk, but there are other people around," said Ivey. "You are talking about 1:30, broad open daylight, so this is just a whole bunch of individuals acting stupid and doing very stupid thing."

Ivey says investigators are still trying to figure out why the shootout happened and who fired the first shots.

"We don’t know who fired first, but we will be able to piece that together. There were a lot of different people around," said Ivey. "You can see in the video, but oddly enough, nobody knows anything. Nobody has any input."

Brevard County Sheriff’s Public Information Officer, Tod Goodyear, says investigators believe there was some type of feud between the four men.

2-year-old shot in Cocoa: Press conference

Brevard County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Tod Goodyear provides an update on a shoot-out that left a 2-year-old girl hurt.

"It appears that there is some kind of an issue between these two parties," said Ivey. "We don’t know what it is and why it escalated to what it did today."

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