OAN Staff James Meyers
12:27 PM – Friday, May 23, 2025
Almost 20 Army Rangers have now been suspended after videos surfaced across social media showing the soldiers shooting off blank rounds at a crowded Florida beach during a local pirate festival.
Eighteen special forces soldiers from the 6th Ranger Training Battalion at Camp Rudder are under investigation for using their weapons without permission after taking part in a mock “sea battle” at the Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival on Crab Island in Destin on Friday, according to military news outlet Task & Purpose.
Videos surfacing on social media depicted at least two groups of soldiers in small boats who were surrounded by other beachgoers. They fired bursts of shots into the air along Fort Walton Beach.
“Is that real?” one woman could be heard shouting in one of the clips.
According to the outlet, a festivalgoer also told reporters the gunfire caused several people to duck for cover.
“This is unacceptable because there are so many real mass shootings going on in America each year,” argued Michael Ingram, a local charter boat captain who spoke to the media.
“You can’t be joking about it.”
“I heard pop, pop, pop, pop. I was on the other side of the Destin Bridge opposite of Crab Island,” owner of Wam Water Adventures, Cameron “Captain Wam” Ellsworth told WEAR News. “I didn’t think much of it. And then I heard it again. I said, ‘Man that’s really strange, but it couldn’t be gunshots. Maybe someone’s tire blew going across the bridge.’ Then we heard it a few more times. … We were all kind of looking each other the same way like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then I pull up right in the middle of Crab Island and I see three military Ranger boats and they’re in full uniform. And they’re shooting off shots — into the sky, given. … The video I got where they only shot once, they were shooting multiple rounds.”
“There were kids out there … and they’re ducking for cover,” he added. “So when you look at it like that, it wasn’t so cool. And there’s retired military people who have PTSD who are just out there trying to relax.”
The incident took place following a maritime skirmish during which the soldiers, as part of a staged engagement, fired blank rounds from their vessels at a pirate ship in a symbolic effort to “capture” Billy Bowlegs—a legendary figure in Florida’s folklore.
The dummy rounds were approved for the “floating firefight,” but city officials explained that the soldiers did not have permission to fire off additional shots.
“What happened at Crab Island was NOT part of the Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival, NOR was it approved by either the City of Fort Walton Beach or the Billy Bowlegs organization,” the city wrote in a Facebook post Saturday.
“A noise alert was sent out early Friday detailing the exact time frame and location of this ‘battle,’ as well as the noises that could be expected. This was the ONLY approved festival activity that involved the Army Rangers firing their weapons.”
The firing of extra rounds also prompted local police to receive hundreds of concerned calls.
Meanwhile, the rangers, who are stationed at Eglin Air Force Base, are now banned from training recruits in the final phase of the Army’s Ranger course, at least until an outcome is revealed from the investigation.
“The Army is aware of the incident that occurred at Crab Island,” a spokesperson for the Army Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning told the publication.
“We take this situation seriously and are investigating. The Army will ensure accountability based on the outcome.”
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