‘Thank God I’m still here’

Another centimeter or two in either direction and it could have been the last Halloween Anthony Berry ever celebrated.

Berry, 20, was one of six people shot and injured early Friday morning when a 17-year-old gunman started firing into the crowd in downtown Orlando. Berry was celebrating Halloween with his friend when someone in the crowd started to get aggressive and then shots rang out.

“Thank God I’m still here,” he told reporters at a news conference Friday at Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Two people were killed and a 26-year-old woman suffered injuries from being trampled as people fled, police said.

Berry, who plans to get into nursing, said he usually stays home to study but his friends invited him out to celebrate the holiday. Things quickly took a turn for the worse.

“I’m usually studying and things like that but it’s Halloween, let’s go out, have fun,” he said.

Berry said he saw a male starting to push his way through the crowd.

“Then I saw him push my friend,” he said. “Immediately, everything happened quickly right after that. He started getting aggressive. … I do know someone was there behind him telling him to chill out and trying to de-escalate the situation.”

Berry, reaching down toward his waist, told reporters that he saw the man make a “hand motion” and Berry immediately ducked.

“Boom. I just saw a white flash,” he said.

Berry said he was bleeding profusely from his head. He covered the wound with his shirt and then followed the crowd to get to safety. He went to the Orlando Fire Department and was transferred to the hospital.

Doctor Joseph Ibrahim said a centimeter or two could have been deadly.

“After it happened, the first thing I did was thank God I’m still here,” said Berry, who has stitches across the top of his head. “I have another opportunity to achieve my goals in life.”

A motive in the shooting remains unclear, police said. The suspect, Jaylen Dwayne Edgar, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder with a firearm and six counts of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm. He had previously been arrested on a grand theft charge in 2023, a crime that remains an active investigation.

Surveillance video released by Orlando police showed the suspect in a yellow shirt walking in the crowd. He appeared to raise his right hand and open fire, according to the video. An officer knocked down the suspect and three others ran to help arrest him. 

Halloween is one of the busiest nights in Orlando with crowds between 50,000 to 100,000 people, Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said. About 100 officers were patrolling the area and tackled the shooter soon after the shots were fired, the chief said.

“The officers did a great job. They responded right when they heard the shooting, you know. So everybody else is running. They’re not, they’re sitting in position looking for a shooter. They found a shooter. They took him down,” the chief previously said.

Edgar will likely be charged as an adult as the investigation progresses, Orange-Osceola State Attorney Andrew Bain said.