On Thursday, October 31, 2024, seventeen-year-old Jaylen Dwayne Edgar has been claimed to be allegedly responsible for a shooting in Downtown Orlando.

Just around the corner from the Pulse nightclub, which was an infamous 2016 shooting in the Orlando area, around 50,000 to 100,000 people were in attendance to ongoing holiday activities. Celebrating Halloween, many people came to dance – and drink – the night away, making this one of the busiest nights in the entire year.  Amidst the celebration, Edgar was caught on a police body camera shooting near a large crowd of people. Taking the lives of two people, Edgar managed to injure six other victims. Identified mostly as locals, the community continues to mourn the lives lost greatly. “To shoot into a massive crowd like that shows a true disregard for life, and the only recourse is to charge this defendant as an adult because it fits the egregious nature of the crime,” State Attorney, Andrew Bain, said in a news conference Monday. Two victims were immediately admitted into Orlando Regional Medical Center and were later declared stable Friday morning. The identities of the people killed and injured have not been released by the Police. The victims ranged from the age groups of 18 to 39, with the two people being killed being nineteen and twenty-five.

On Monday, November 4, 2024, after various questionings and time in containment, Edgar was charged as an adult, although his current age as a seventeen-year-old minor. He was charged with two counts of second-degree murder, with more expected charges along the way. With a grand jury, Bain previously stated, there is a possibility that the charges could be raise to a first-degree murder. “The video was clear that he shot somebody in the eye, point-blank range,” said Bain.