Pensacola shooting of 7 people was result of 'years-long feud'

Roughly 36 hours after a Downtown Pensacola shooting left six injured and a 19-year-old man dead, police Chief Eric Winstrom said Monday the shooting may have been gang related.

After Winstrom disclosed that 19-year-old Phillip Sheppard Jr. was fatally shot July 5, he said that many of the individuals involved in the targeted shooting have affiliations with local gangs.

"We know that multiple of these individuals have gang connections, (but we're) not prepared to say these are gang members," Winstrom said at the July 6 press conference. "We know there are feuds going back years, gang-related feuds, that six of these individuals were known to each other."

Winstrom also said one of the gunshot victims was "not known" to any of the other individuals and was likely hit by a stray bullet. Five of the six people hospitalized July 5 have since been released, and the final victim is no longer facing life-threatening injuries, according to Winstrom.

No arrests have been made.

"This is a years-long feud," Winstrom said. "Regardless of what the content of this feud is, which the detectives are looking in to, obviously I don't think it's going to be anything that you or I or members of the public think would justify the death of a 19-year-old man who had his whole life ahead of him."

Winstrom said that damage from the bullets indicates there was crossfire between two groups of people.

At least two weapons were determined to have been fire during the shooting.

This story will be updated shortly.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola shooting of 7 people was result of 'years-long feud'

Reporting by Benjamin Johnson, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal

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This story was originally published July 6, 2026 at 1:16 PM.