BELLEVIEW, Fla. (AP) — Sounds of rapid machine gun and cannon fire cut though the Sunday morning quiet, sending members of a nearby Florida church diving for cover as they feared a repeat of the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas.
“It was crazy,” said Belleview Church of Christ Pastor David Creek. He tells the Ocala Star-Banner he had just made reference to the Las Vegas shooting in his Sunday morning sermon when the first shots sounded.
Creek says “everyone thought it was going down,” adding that one church member sped away in his car thinking his life was in danger.
David Thomas, president of the First Florida chapter of the Military Vehicle Preservation Association, says the annual re-enactment involved a mix of five vintage tanks and blank fire from tank guns and machine guns.