The Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are investigating two separate shootings that occurred over the holiday weekend in Ginnie Springs.
According to a social media post from the GCSO, the shootings occurred during the late night hours of Friday and Saturday.
“Over Memorial Day weekend, the Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office was called to respond to not one, but two separate shootings in Ginnie Springs. One during the overnight hours of Friday, May 24 and the other during the overnight hours of Saturday, May 25. incidents are currently under active investigation by both GCSO and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). No additional details will be released at this time to preserve the integrity of the ongoing investigations,” the post said.
It is unclear if any of the shootings are related to a GCSO dispatch Sunday afternoon about the search for an attempted murder suspect. The post described a person of interest in the case and noted that the incident occurred around 11:30 PM on Saturday on the roadway between Devil’s Spring and the tube launch.
The GCSO later said it was no longer looking for the person described in the message.
A number of people on social media on Sunday reported multiple fatal shootings over the weekend in the sources, but that information has yet to be confirmed.
When asked Monday if there have been any deaths or arrests in connection with the shootings, the GCSO said the information on its social media account was the only information available at this time due to the Memorial Day holiday.
A person who answered the phone at Ginnie Springs on Monday declined to comment on the shootings and asked that all questions be directed to the GCSO.
After the shooting, Ginnie Springs posted on social media and on its website Sunday morning: “The park is temporarily closed. We will let everyone know when access is available.” That message was updated Monday to note that the park was open for normal daily access and expected to resume normal operations on Tuesday.
A May 7 Facebook post by the park about the Memorial Day festivities described the event as an “adult weekend with a festive atmosphere, we do not recommend it for children.”
Following the park’s closure, High Spring police posted on its social media account just after 1 p.m. Sunday that “major traffic backups” were occurring in the area of South Main Street and Poe Springs Road.
Last year, a 45-year-old Holiday woman died in the park over Memorial Day weekend after falling from the back of a moving Jeep. The Florida Highway Patrol then reported that after the woman fell, she was run over by a trailer pulled by the Jeep. She was transported to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Multiple shootings reported at Ginnie Springs Outdoors in High Springs
