Chitwood, Capri follow up after “Orlando Invades Daytona”

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The "Orlando Invades Daytona" block party shook the beach's historic Boardwalk area Saturday evening, at one point blocking traffic on A1A eastbound and leaving six people with injuries from a shooting as attendees dispersed later that night, according to a press conference.

Daytona Beach police originally reported in a twitter post that only "several" people suffered non life-threatening injuries from the shooting; following their investigation, Daytona Beach PD have now identified four others hit by shrapnel.

The incident in question occurred outside of the 7-Eleven at 35 S. Atlantic Ave after 7:30 p.m., and the six injuries as a result are considered minor, according to Daytona Beach police chief Craig Capri.

While he expressed thankfulness for the victims’ assured recovery, Capri says that at least one of them is “uncooperative” and won’t talk to investigators.

Capri also described exactly what “Orlando Invades Daytona” is: the gathering was planned and advertised on social media, an annual block party that takes place every Memorial Day weekend in one way or another.

Despite an effort to contact event organizers and have the party canceled, Capri says that he knew people were going to show up anyway.

“We planned for it last week, we had over forty officers on the beachside yesterday all day,” Capri said.

“On the hardtop there was no gauntlets, nobody breaking the law -- I can’t lock people up nor do I want to lock somebody up if they’re not breaking the law, everyone is welcome to Daytona Beach,” Capri said.

Next to speak was Volusia County sheriff Mike Chitwood, whose hands were similarly full just a week prior as his and other departments attempted to break up a series of block parties in DeLand, according to our news partner Channel 9.

Chitwood elaborated on Capri’s explanation that the only people who really broke the law were the party organizers.

“People were telling me ‘oh you should have fired tear gas and you should have locked up a million people,’ I can tell you the only investigation we have going on right now is for the a**hole that was throwing money out of the car on A1A,” Chitwood said, calling the man a “linchpin” which started it all.

Chitwood claims to be reviewing aerial footage of the "money-throwing" man to identify him, you can see it for yourself by reading our preliminary report.

All in all, Chitwood and Capri agreed during the press conference that the situation was handled well.

“Not one business was broken into, there was no looting, there was no damage to personal property, nobody was injured, and all of the law enforcement folks involved went home safe,” Chitwood said.