Brothers injured in brawl at water park

ORLANDO -- Shots were fired and teenagers brawled inside and outside Wet 'n Wild water park Sunday, injuring two brothers from Pompano Beach.

The fighting  — between two rival groups of high school students — began around 5:10 p.m. Sunday, less than an hour before the park was to close.

Police said the incident started inside the park, when dozens of young people jumped on an Orlando police officer who was arresting a teenage girl for disorderly conduct. The teens were also fighting park security guards, said Orlando police spokeswoman Barbara Jones said.

Several hundred youths were then ushered to the parking lot to board buses operated by Fort Lauderdale-based Xtreme Trips, which organizes outings for high school and college students.

Multiple fights then broke out in the parking lot and the brothers were injured in the ensuing melee.

Michael Roosevelt, 18, was shot in the left leg, and his brother Marlin Laguerre, 16, was hit in the face — possibly with a rock — according to Jones.

Roosevelt was shot with a small caliber handgun, police said. Police found a loaded .22-caliber pistol in the toilet of one of the buses used to transport the teens, but weren’t sure if it was the weapon used in the shooting, or if it was carried into the park.

Neither brother appeared to have life-threatening injuries, police said.

No arrests were made in the shooting and police did not identify any suspects.

In addition to the teen girl arrested inside the park, a 17-year-old was arrested in the parking lot for misdemeanor assault and interference during the course of the investigation.

Police said “crowd control spray” was used inside the park, and in the parking lot.

Wet 'n Wild spokesman Mike Black said some members of a large group “had become unruly” while visiting the park. “Our security team worked closely with the Orlando Police Department to remove the unruly individuals as a precaution,” Black said in a statement, adding that the incident is still being investigated.

Wet 'n Wild, located on International Drive at Universal Boulevard, is a unit of Universal Parks and Resorts.

Rita Farlow, Times staff writer

Information from Times wires and the Orlando Sentinel were used in this report.