Palm Bay police: Tree trimmer suffers gunshot wound in area west of shooting ranges
A worker trimming trees west of two Palm Bay shooting ranges was airlifted to a local hospital Wednesday after being wounded in a shooting, Palm Bay police reported.
The shooting happened about noon just south of Malabar Road and St. Johns Heritage Parkway. Palm Bay patrol officers arrived within moments and found the wounded man, who was taken to Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne.
“The worker had non-life threatening injuries,” Lt. Virginia Kilmer, spokesperson with the Palm Bay Police Department, stated in a release.
"The individual was part of a crew hired to work on some trees in the area west of the city’s shooting ranges."
Detectives and crime scene investigators were working to determine the origin of the gunfire, the release stated. The Port Malabar Rifle & Rifle Club and the Palm Bay Police Range are located south of the location where the shooting was reported, on Hurley Road.
“We can confirm the shooting did not involve any members of the Palm Bay Police Department," Kilmer said.
J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jdgallop@floridatoday.com. X, formerly known as Twitter: @JDGallop.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Palm Bay police investigate as tree trimmer wounded by gunshot
