Police officer shot outside Fort Lauderdale hotel ahead of busy spring break weekend

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Spring breakers head to Fort Lauderdale after Miami Beach sets midnight curfew

Fox News’ Madison Scarpino reports live from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on the growing spring break crowds that Democratic Mayor Dean Trantalis says are welcome in his city.

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A police officer was shot outside a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, hotel on Thursday morning. 

The officer was rushed to a hospital, is in stable condition and expected to be OK, according to police, and the suspected gunman is “accounted for,” Fort Lauderdale police posted on X at 10:23 a.m.

Authorities in the popular Florida tourist hot spot stressed there is not an active shooter situation, but details surrounding the incident were scarce. 

The area around 17th Street and 15th Avenue intersection, where a Holiday Inn is located, was blocked off in all directions. 

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A police officer was shot outside this hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Thursday morning. (Google Street View)

Police did not say what preceded the shooting or who the suspect is.

Armored trucks were parked outside the hotel, and dozens of police vehicles were concentrated in and around the crime scene. 

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A police officer was shot in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on March 21, 2024. (Hoberman Collection/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

A hotel guest told the Sun Sentinel that the shooting appeared to start on the pool deck right above the hotel’s parking garage. 

“We’re moving down here. We were waking up to have breakfast at the hotel, and staff pushed everyone into an event room,” hotel guest Alexis Boettcher, who is visiting from Cleveland, told the local newspaper. “I came downstairs. They told me there was an active shooter and I couldn’t go back in the building.”

Fort Lauderdale is in the middle of a busier-than-usual spring break this year, after an influx of party seekers ventured up Florida’s coast because of Miami Beach’s “break up” with the annual March madness.

Law enforcement have not said if there is any connection between spring break and the shooting. 

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Before this incident, Fort Lauderdale police told Fox News Digital there were 13 spring break-related arrests from March 1 to 17, and it has been a peaceful spring break season, with no major incidents.

Chris Eberhart is a crime and US news reporter for Fox News Digital. Email tips to chris.eberhart@fox.com or on Twitter @ChrisEberhart48.