APOPKA, Florida — Two juveniles have been arrested after a shooting outside the Fall Family Festival in Apopka late on Friday night left a 21-year-old man fighting for his life, the Apopka Police Department says. Officers quickly detained two people near the scene and recovered the firearm they say was used in the shooting.

Source: WFTV Channel 9

The shooting happened late Friday, November 6, into the early hours of Saturday, November 7, at the Fall Family Festival in Kit Land Nelson Park, 10 South Forest Avenue, in downtown Apopka, Orange County, according to police accounts reported by WKMG News 6 and WFTV Channel 9.

An argument inside the fair, gunfire as people were leaving

In an update issued by the Apopka Police Department and reported by WFTV, police said an argument that began inside the fair escalated into a shooting as the individuals involved were leaving the festival grounds. Officers responded to the shooting near the intersection of Goodrich Avenue and East Orange Street, just east of the park.

The victim, a 21-year-old man, was shot multiple times and was taken to a hospital, where he remains in critical condition, the department said in its update. WKMG News 6 described his condition as serious. Police have not released the man's name.

A festival vendor told WFTV she heard the gunfire erupt as a rapid series of shots — “pop, pop, pop” — as the Friday-night crowd was heading out of the fairgrounds.

Two juveniles arrested and a firearm recovered

Officers quickly located and detained two individuals, and both were subsequently arrested, police said. Investigators recovered the firearm that police identified as having been used in the shooting.

Source: WKMG News 6 ClickOrlando

One of those arrested, a 17-year-old, faces charges of attempted first-degree homicide, tampering with evidence, juvenile possession of a firearm and resisting an officer without violence, according to the police update. The second juvenile, whose name was not included in the update, was charged with resisting an officer without violence. All of the charges are allegations; both juveniles are presumed innocent unless the charges are proven.

“Our thoughts are with the victim and his family,” the Apopka Police Department said in its statement, reported by WFTV.

A family festival in its second night

The shooting came on the second night of the Apopka Fall Family Festival, which ran from Thursday, November 5, through Sunday, November 8, at Kit Land Nelson Park. The free-admission festival, a fixture of the city's autumn calendar, featured a carnival midway and rides, food trucks, games, a kids' market, a beer garden and live music, drawing families from across the Apopka and northwest Orlando area.

Kit Land Nelson Park, on South Forest Avenue in downtown Apopka, is the city's central events ground and hosts community gatherings through the year. Apopka is an Orange County city of roughly 55,000 people, about 20 miles northwest of downtown Orlando. Central Florida's growing Punjabi and wider South Asian community lives across the Orlando suburbs, and family festivals like this one are the kind of public events those families attend on autumn weekends — which is why gunfire at a family fair has unsettled residents well beyond the neighbourhood.

What happens next

Police have not said what the argument inside the fair was about, whether the people involved knew each other, or what led officers to the two juveniles so quickly. Both cases now move into Florida's juvenile justice process, where prosecutors will decide how the charges — including the attempted first-degree homicide allegation against the 17-year-old — proceed. Updates on the 21-year-old's condition and any further arrests are expected from the Apopka Police Department as the investigation continues.