Four people were shot late Saturday night at a remote off-road gathering spot south of Lake Wales known as the mud hole, and one of the victims had to be airlifted from a nearby university football field to reach a hospital. The Polk County Sheriff's Office says the three women and one man injured in the September 26 shooting all suffered non-life-threatening wounds, though the chaotic scene required a multi-agency medical response in the dark, unpaved terrain along Alturas-Babson Park Cutoff Road.
According to the Lakeland Ledger, the shooting happened the evening of September 26 at the informal off-road site south of Lake Wales. Polk County Sheriff's Office officials confirmed the breakdown of victims as three females and one male, all sustaining injuries described as non-life-threatening, according to Eye In The Sky News. Early radio traffic during the incident had initially suggested as many as four victims before deputies officially confirmed the count.
Helicopter Landing Zone Set Up on Football Field
Getting one of the injured people to a hospital required an unusual workaround given the site's remote, unpaved location. Emergency personnel staged an AeroMed medical helicopter landing zone at Warner University's football field in nearby Lake Wales to airlift a patient to a hospital, per the Daily Ridge.
One patient was flown by air ambulance, while the three other shooting victims were transported to local hospitals by civilians, according to a report shared on Facebook.
A Notorious Off-Road Gathering Spot
The site where the shooting occurred, known locally as the Mud Hole, is along Alturas-Babson Park Cutoff Road south of Lake Wales, according to the Daily Ridge.
Search for Suspects
No suspect had been publicly identified or taken into custody as of the latest law enforcement updates.
The shooting occurred the same month that jury proceedings began in the 2020 Frostproof triple homicide, another rural outdoor shooting case that Hoodline previously covered.
