The Army has launched an investigation into whether a group of Army Rangers fired automatic weapons at a popular public beach crowded with boaters and tourists on Friday in Destin, Florida.
Jennifer S. Gunn, a spokeswoman for the Army Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia told Task & Purpose that officials are looking into the incident in which men wearing military uniforms and Ranger t-shirts fired blank rounds at Crab Island in Destin, triggering several calls to police and a flurry of social media posts.
“The Army is aware of the incident that occurred at Crab Island near Fort Walton Beach, Florida, Friday, May 16,” Gunn told Task & Purpose. “We take this situation seriously and are investigating. The Army will ensure accountability based on the outcome of the investigation. No further information is available at this time.”
Officials could not confirm if a group seen firing weapons at Crab Island were Army Rangers, but local officials confirmed to Task & Purpose that a group of Army Rangers participated that afternoon in a sanctioned public event five miles away that did involve firing weapons with blank rounds. Soldiers with the Army’s 6th Ranger Battalion assigned to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, took part in a mock “sea battle” with a pirate ship on Friday evening as part of the Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival, said Devon Ravine, a spokesman for the city of Fort Walton Beach.
Riding in small boats, the Rangers fired blanks while maneuvering their boats to ‘capture’ Billy Bowlegs. The 6th Ranger Training Battalion runs the swamp phase of Ranger School at Eglin, but is not within the 75th Ranger Regiment. The event took place at Fort Walton Beach Landing, another popular boating destination a short boat ride from Destin across Choctawhatchee Bay.
“This was the only approved festival activity that involved the Army Rangers firing their weapons,” Ravine said. The pirate festival, he said, was about five miles from Crab Island. “We do not know what occurred at Crab Island on Friday, and cannot comment, except to say that it was not in any way a part of the Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival.”
The pirate battle in Fort Walton Beach is an annual event that was announced earlier in the week, with public alerts that simulated gunfire might be heard during the event. Rangers from 6th Ranger Training Battalion on Eglin Air Force Base have participated in the event in past years, and Rangers were there again on Friday.
One witness at Crab Island told Task & Purpose that the group in uniforms began firing without issuing any sort of warning ahead of time. Michael Ingram, a charter boat captain, said that when the firing began, his clients and many other boaters took cover.
After the second burst, Ingram heard people screaming in the distance. He said his heart sank because he worried someone had been shot.
“This is unacceptable because there are so many real mass shootings going on in America each year,” Ingram said. “You can’t be joking about it.”
Ingram said that to the best of his knowledge, no one at Crab Island that afternoon knew ahead of time that the service members would be there. He added that when the soldiers later mingled with civilians, boaters could see their Ranger tabs.
Though officials would not confirm that the group seen firing weapons at Crab Island was the Ranger team from the pirate battle, numerous pictures and videos on social media of the Destin event appear to match the group.
In one of the videos, a woman who is off camera can be heard shouting after the first burst, “Is that real?”
A caption for the video says the people firing the weapons are part of a military unit that had stopped while on their way to an event at Fort Walton Beach.
Videos posted from Crab Island on social media show men in military uniforms with Ranger tabs and “Follow me!”-shoulder patches of the Army’s infantry school, which oversees Ranger training units, matching pictures of the soldiers at the Fort Walton Beach event. The weapons and personal kit the men are carrying also appear to match those seen at Fort Walton Beach, as do the make and model of their boats.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office received at least two 911 calls about Friday’s incident, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Michele Nicholson told Task & Purpose on Monday.
“We had the first 911 call come in on May 16th at 3:22 p.m. from the Crab Island area,” Nicholson said. “The dispatch notes indicate a second 911 call came in during that same time frame. It also references three additional calls, but those may have been received over the primary line, not 911.”
Firing weapons in public locations, even with blank rounds, without considerable preparation and warning, is not a normal procedure for soldiers. A soldier who spoke to Task & Purpose on condition of anonymity said that if the Rangers were testing their weapons prior to the pirate festival, they showed poor judgment by doing it so close to civilians. The soldier doubted that a senior leader would have given permission to fire weapons in public outside of the designated festival area where the event was actually taking place.
The city of Fort Walton Beach issued a statement on Saturday advising anyone who wants to file a complaint over the Crab Island incident to contact the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office or the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
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