‘We had nowhere to run’: Tampa woman recalls chaotic moments after shooting near Armature Works
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Tampa Bay area woman is sharing her experience about the terror she endured during the shooting near Armature Works on Tuesday afternoon.
“We kept hearing ‘Pop, pop, pop’, They were going off,” said Suzanne McKay. “It didn’t stop.”
According to the Tampa Police Department, the shooting occurred around 4:08 p.m. in the 1900 block of North Ola Avenue after a “disturbance quickly erupted unnecessarily into gunfire.”
Chief Lee Bercaw said three people were shot, and a fourth victim “may or may not have been hit by a bullet.”
McKay says she witnessed a woman get shot and immediately tried to help.
“She lost so much blood,” said McKay. “They didn’t have anything to tourniquet her, so I took a sweater out of my bag, and we tried turning it into a tourniquet.”
McKay says she tried to escape the gunfire by hiding in a cooler with other bystanders while her husband and other men blocked the door.
“We were 100 percent sitting ducks,” said McKay. “We had nowhere to run, left, right, or center. We had nowhere to go, nowhere to go. There was nothing.”
Bercaw says this was not an active shooter situation.
“What we do know is this was a disturbance between two groups and that innocent bystanders were hit. How unfortunate and unacceptable it is that a disturbance results in gunfire where innocent bystanders get hit,” said Bercaw.
Police have not made any arrests and a suspect has not been named.
However, they are reviewing video footage that was captured at the scene.
Anyone who witnessed the shooting or may have captured video of the incident is asked to contact the Tampa Police Department.
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