Texas Beach Party: 1 Killed, 2 Injured as Police Investigate
A beach party in Texas turned deadly this weekend when one person was shot and two others injured. Police estimate that over 15,000 young people were at the party, which they say "got out of hand."
Derrick Milam, 25, was killed by a stray bullet to the neck, his stepsister told authorities. Fights broke out among partygoers, she told the Houston Chronicle. "Dead, dead, dead," Danielle Banks heard as people began to flee the scene.
She soon discovered that it was her stepbrother, Derrick, who had been killed. "I saw his face covered in blood, and he was laying in a puddle of blood. It was really chaotic. It's still sinking in with me," Banks said.
KTRK reported that one teenager was shot in the buttocks and a man was shot in the leg; both are expected to recover from their injuries. People at the party were shocked to discover that some had snapped photos of Milam as he was dying.
One image still on Twitter shows him being wrapped in towels and helped by members of his family. Milam died of his injuries, and people on the Texas Beach Party website have expressed outrage of the image being posted.
"I swear, seeing that picture of dude dead at the beach party made me sick… People really do anything get RTs (re-tweets) or Follows," noted user CallMeTSNR.
"That's cold how they had that boy on Instagram (photo website) while he lay there dying with a gunshot to the neck" commented Greenspoint121.
Milam leaves behind a fiancé and a son, Zerrick. He was with his family at the beach when the shootings started. "He was loving, fun, outgoing, charismatic, and he was a good father," his stepsister Banks said.
The Texas Beach Party was an unauthorized event that drew in massive crowds; it was advertised using Facebook and Twitter, encouraging young Texans to bring beach balls, volleyballs, and their own alcohol for the party.
"There was a lot of drinking and a lot of weed," Alante Wade told The Facts newspaper. Authorities have launched a full-scale investigation into the shootings and the party itself.
"We're still trying to figure out what happened and where it happened," Brazoria County Sheriff Charles Wagner has said, according to The Facts.
