ORLANDO, Fla. – Changes in downtown Orlando are set to begin Friday just two weeks after two people were killed in a mass shooting on Halloween night.
Jaylen Edgar, 17, is accused of opening fire among the costumed revelers downtown around 1 a.m. on Nov. 1, killing two people. Seven people were injured by gunshots, and another person was hurt when they were trampled by the fleeing crowd.
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City officials said earlier this month that the street-party atmosphere downtown has led to consistent public safety issues and the city is pursuing every safety measure to protect the community. Starting Friday, the city will start reopening Orange Avenue and the side streets to vehicular traffic during late-night hours.
This will be done gradually, using barricades to keep pedestrians closer to the sidewalks and opening one lane of traffic on Orange Avenue.
“I mean, when they close off all these streets, people would walk in the streets, and it would be less crowded,” said Caleb Villavicencio, who was in the area at the time of the shooting. “I feel like if they open up the streets, these sidewalks will be a lot more crowded, and I feel like there will be a lot more potential for fights.”
[RELATED: Teen accused in deadly downtown Orlando mass shooting charged as adult]
Eventually, all three lanes of Orange Avenue will reopen, but a city spokesperson said there is not set timeline for that yet.
“The city will begin implementing road closures that include vehicle and pedestrian elements,” a spokesperson for the city said. “The vehicular elements will be consistent with the current OPD weekend closures, and the pedestrian component will include bicycle barricades that block off the middle lane of Orange Avenue from Washington Street to Pine Street.”
The changes come with their own safety concerns. Critics of the plan fear it will only be a matter of time before someone is hit by a car.
Dyer declared a state of emergency and a curfew from 1-5 a.m., requiring alcohol sales to end at midnight, in response to the shooting. That curfew and state of emergency expired last week.
Edgar is being tried as an adult and is facing murder and attempted murder charges.
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