YBOR CITY, Fla. — Two people were killed, including a 14-year-old boy, and 16 others injured in a shooting in Ybor City.

Tampa's Police Chief says one person is in custody in connection with the shooting, identified as 22-year-old Tyrell Phillips, and is facing second-degree murder charges.

Tampa police say it happened just before 3 a.m. Sunday in the area of Tangra Nightclub in the 1600 block of E 7th Ave.

Police chief Lee Bercaw said the incident started with a dispute between two groups. One person died at the scene, and a second died at a local hospital.

16 additional victims were taken to nearby hospitals with related injuries, 15 of which were gunshot wounds.

Initial reports stated there were 20 victims in total, but that number was revised down.

Many of the additional victims, who ranged in age from 18-27 years old, have been medically treated and released from the hospital.

Five remain in the hospital, recovering from their injuries.

Police chief Lee Bercaw said the incident started with a dispute between two groups. (Brian Rea/Spectrum Bay News 9)

“This morning, it’s tragic that families have to wake up and see on the news what happened here tonight,” Bercaw said.

“We have to think about the families involved and the victims that were involved, and our hearts go out to them.”

More than four dozen officers were in the area during the investigation.

Emmitt Wilson said his 14-year-old son, Elijah, is one of the victims who was shot and killed. He told Spectrum News that his son was a good kid but sometimes hung out with the wrong crowd. He said he is heartbroken.

"You never expect this to happen," Wilson said. "It was multiple people shot and he happened to be one of the unfortunate to take this. I have to take this loss right now.”

ABOVE: Comments from father of victim

Bercaw said anyone with video of the incident should contact police at 813-231-6130 or contact Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay at 1-800-873-TIPS (8477).

Bercaw said nearby businesses have offered to share their surveillance video.

In a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said: "Yet again, a senseless loss of life by those choosing to settle a dispute with firearms. Lives lost and others forever changed. To what end? The Tampa Police Department had 50 officers deployed in the area at the time, so this is not a law enforcement issue.

"Bad decisions made in a split second and the proliferation of readily available guns are responsible for these almost daily incidents. We can affect one half of this equation."

Photo by Brian Rea, Spectrum Bay News 9

Nearby businesses react to shooting

Many businesses in the area were affected until mid-afternoon Sunday as Tampa Police investigated the scene.

“We were kind of just running with a skeleton crew to get through the day,” said Alicia Duffy, general manager of New York New York Pizza. “We had the front shut down. It was a crime scene until about 3 p.m.”

Duffy's business was one of many forced to stay closed much of the day because they were on the wrong side of the yellow tape, inside the shooting crime scene.

Duffy was there Sunday morning at 2 a.m., when they had to go from serving food to survival mode.

“I pulled my whole staff to the back,” she said. “You don’t want anybody near windows. It’s unfortunate because people were screaming and trying to get in, but, but I can’t … and at our back door, people were trying to break in the back door. I know people were scared, but we’re also scared.”

Duffy has worked at New York New York Pizza for over a decade, and while she has heard gunfire whizz by the store before, she says this incident was more frightening than anything else.

“There’s no getting used to it,” said Duffy. “If anything you just try to make sure you’re doing all the right things, making sure you’re protecting who you can protect.”

ABOVE: New York New York Pizza staff and customers react to overnight shooting.

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