Man shot in unreported incident at Half Time Liquors parking lot 3 days before mass shooting

A man, who may have been caught in the crossfire, was shot in the parking lot of Half Time Liquors three days before the area became the site of a mass shooting that injured eight people and killed an innocent bystander.

The incident, which was largely unreported by the Tallahassee Police Department, occurred around 1:30 a.m. on Oct. 26 when a man was shot in the foot while in the parking lot of the liquor store at 2101 W. Pensacola Street.

“The victim left the scene in his vehicle and drove to a local hospital,” TPD spokesperson Heather Merritt told the Democrat Friday afternoon. “At this time, no arrests have been made and it’s unclear if the victim was the target of the shooting.”

She added that an investigation into this shooting remains open and active.

“At this time, there are no known connections to the Oct. 29 shooting incident; however, that investigation remains ongoing,” she said.

Coverage of mass shooting:

As part of revised reporting procedures late last year, TPD releases information to the community about life-threatening or fatal shootings real time through what they call a social media “Incident Alert.” For less serious shootings, stabbings or “noteworthy events,” TPD will send out an emailed “Incident Synopsis” to media the next business day.

While the community was not alerted to the shooting in a synopsis, the shooting was catalogued in a log of incidents sent to media daily – but it was labeled only as an “aggravated assault” with no details.

“Information was actively still being gathered for public release as to what occurred,” Merritt said when asked why the shooting was not reported in an “Incident Synopsis.”

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As part of its public safety reporting, The Tallahassee Democrat uses Incident Alerts and the Synopsis to tally the number of serious shootings in the capital city and county. This year, 17 people have been killed and least 77 injured from 96 serious shootings.

The Democrat first heard of the late-night shooting from a comment on a Tallahassee Reports article. The commenter wrote that her grandson was hit after being caught in the crossfire of the shooting that occurred Wednesday night.

“There (was) no mention of the Wednesday night shooting to the media,” the comment read. “The young person who lost their life and were injured may have been spared had the first shooting been released to the media”

Contact Christopher Cann at ccann@tallahassee.com and follow @ChrisCannFL on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Man shot in Half Time Liquors parking lot three days before mass shooting