Saturday Night Shooting in Panama City Leaves One Injured

One person was injured in a shooting incident Saturday night in Bay County.

According to authorities the incident happened in Panama City at the Henry Kirkland Apartments on North Everitt Avenue at the border of Panama City and Springfield. Details about the incident are scarce, but one male received what were described as non life threatening injuries in the incident which occurred shortly before 9pm Saturday. Springfield police were originally on the lookout for the alleged perpetrator Ricardo Hayes, but he was located and taken into custody at a later time. Hayes was charged with Aggravated Battery with a firearm as well as shooting into an occupied dwelling.

This incident comes as the Panama City Beach area prepares for higher rates of incidents for the upcoming season - the daily population of Panama City Beach swells to over 5 times the normal population around 100,000 during the busy summer months. The offseason population is around 18,300 according to the city of Panama City Beach. This doesnt take into account the heavily populated east end that lies in unincorporated Bay County. All in all, this amounts to over 4.5 million visitors each year. To compound this issue, studies show that in most areas crime rates typically rise in the summer months. This can be explained by looking at many factors, from people spending more time outside in proximity with others to the physical effects of heat - heat increases body temperature which leads to higher heart rate and blood pressure leading to discomfort which ends withincreased levels of anger and violence.

Photo byDavid von DiemaronUnsplash