A 16-year-old was charged in a shooting at Clearwater Beach during a "teen takeover" event on Sunday.
Hundreds of teens gathered at the 100 block of Coronado Drive for an event promoted as a "link up" on social media, officials said.
Noah Marsh III, of Haines City, is accused of attempted second-degree murder, discharging a firearm in public and unlawful possession of a firearm by a minor, authorities said.
During a joint news conference between the Clearwater Police Department and the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday, authorities said the incident started as a fight between two groups of teenagers who had a prior dispute last month in Winter Haven.
"Investigators learned from the victim that the dispute largely stems from social media and party-related rivalries," Clearwater Deputy Police Chief Michael Walek said.
Law enforcement said the suspect fired seven shots and injured a 17-year-old who remains hospitalized with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds to their leg, arm and chest.
Marsh III was arrested on Monday night and was being held at Polk County Jail with other adult offenders. The state attorney's office has not yet decided whether the suspect will be charged as a minor or an adult.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, also speaking at Tuesday's conference, said that law enforcement plays a role in deterring and responding to so-called "teen takeover" events — but so do parents.
"They need to step up, they need to parent, they need to be responsible for their kids, and if there is an opportunity for us to hold the parents responsible, we're going to do it," he said.
He added that parents of youths involved in criminal activities during takeover-style events could face charges ranging from civil liability to child neglect, depending on the situation.
He said many of the kids involved in Sunday's mass meet-up were unsupervised and traveled from Hillsborough and Polk counties using ride-share apps, like Uber.
A 'more vigilant' response needed
The "teen takeover" at Clearwater Beach on May 31 was the second of its kind locally to end in arrests.
Last month in downtown Tampa, 18 minors were arrested for mostly misdemeanor charges following a mass meet-up at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park.
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The growing social media trend to organize "teen takeovers," or unsanctioned mass meet-ups in public spaces, is prompting law enforcement to evaluate responses and is catching the attention of state officials.
On Tuesday, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier wrote on X that his office was looking into the meet-ups.
"Whoever is organizing these 'teen takeovers,' congrats: you have my attention," he wrote. "This behavior is unacceptable, and I’m having our Statewide Prosecutors develop a plan to investigate and prosecute those who are responsible for these events."
Walek said that takeover-style gatherings can quickly devolve even if they weren't planned with bad intentions.
Whoever is organizing these “teen takeovers,” congrats: you have my attention.
— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) June 2, 2026
This behavior is unacceptable, and I’m having our Statewide Prosecutors develop a plan to investigate and prosecute those who are responsible for these events.
Stay tuned. More to come. https://t.co/47nYSKBthP
He said that the social media post for Sunday's event "urged people to bring umbrellas, water, not alcohol, and not guns. The flyer also mentioned no unsupervised minors."
Walek said law enforcement was aware of the meet-up and was actively monitoring activity all day. At its peak, there were 40 officers dispatched from the Clearwater Police Department along with 11 units from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and five units from the Largo Police Department.
He defended law enforcement's response and said that Sunday's shooting was the result of bad actors from outside the city limits.
"There's always room for improvement, no matter what you're doing. But I think at the point that we were at, it was all under control until some reckless out-of-towners decided to shoot guns," he said.
Gualtieri characterized Sunday's events as a "one-off," but said that officials are prepared "to be more vigilant about it."
Those strategies include proactively asking event organizers to cancel events, bolstering police presence at teen gatherings and rolling out new software to monitor social media posts, Gualtieri said.
Since Sunday, information for other "teen takeovers" across the greater Tampa Bay region has been posted to social media, including plans for another meet-up at Clearwater Beach that never materialized and, as WFLA-TV reported, a thwarted takeover Monday night in Wesley Chapel.
