On Monday afternoon, Mayor Buddy Dyer announced that big changes were coming to the downtown Orlando bar scene in the coming days.

His announcement comes in the wake of a shooting over the weekend near Wall Street Plaza that left seven people injured. 

“This can not and should not happen in our downtown,” said Dyer.

According to Orlando Police, as the bars and restaurants in the area were closing early Sunday morning, a large fight broke out and led to a shooting. Seven people were hurt — six of them were taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center and one self-transported to Advent Health

In the wake of the violence, Dyer said that access points would be set up downtown as early as this weekend. 

“We have used this, I think, three times at some of the holiday events and those have all been safe a secure," he said. "So at least the pilots, lets call them that, have worked very well so we are hopeful that that will work as well."

Dyer said there will likely be six access points, but their locations are still being discussed. He expects each to be staffed with Orlando Police officers with dogs. There will be voluntary weapons checks as well, he said.

“It will hopefully be a deterrent to those that want to come into downtown to do bad things and not for a purpose," said Dyer. "If they have a concealed weapons permit, they are allowed to carry a gun. If they do not have a concealed weapons permit and we detect that they have a weapon, then they are illegally carrying a weapon and we can seize that.”

Dyer said that his hands are tied when it comes to keeping guns out of the area altogether. 

“If I could make it a weapons free zone, I would do that, but you know that the state Legislature has taken the ability of cities to regulate where guns can be taken into," he said. "So If I had the ability to say that downtown would be a gun free zone, I would do that tomorrow, but I simply do not have the ability."

He said he hopes, though, that the checkpoints will be a deterrent for people looking to do harm.

“There are people that are coming and are simply lingering and creating a festival like atmosphere, not even going into the bars," Dyer said. "And a lot of them are not even accessing the bars until after one o'clock."

He said that while he is open to making other changes down the road, he is hopeful that the current plan will help make the area safer for everyone. 

“We are going to do everything that we possibly can to make sure that downtown in safe,” said Dyer. 

In regards to the shooting, Orlando Police say it is still a very active investigation, and they are asking witnesses to come forward and share any photos or videos that they might have from the incident. 

Dyer said there are more changes coming down the pipeline that were already on commission agendas, such has a noise ordinance and improved downtown lighting. He said at this point, there is no plan to change the hours of operations of the bars in that area. ​