At least 22 people shot, 2 fatally, after assailants get out of an SUV and fire assault rifles at a club, police say
Police are asking for the public’s help in finding whoever opened fire at a Florida club early Sunday, killing at least two people and wounding at least 20 more, Miami-Dade Police Department Director Alfredo Ramirez III said.
Shortly after midnight, a white Nissan Pathfinder pulled up to the El Mula Banquet Hall near Hialeah and three people “stepped out of the vehicle with assault rifles and handguns and started firing indiscriminately into the crowd,” Ramirez said.
“The result is 20 to 25 victims with gunshot injury wounds, and two deceased on the scene,” he said.
Five victims were taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida. Two of them are in critical condition, according to hospital spokesperson Kerting Baldwin.
The banquet hall and billiards club had been rented out for a concert Saturday night, Ramirez said.
Angelica Green said her son and her nephew were among those shot.
Her son was shot once in the abdomen area and is in stable condition after surgery, Green said Sunday.
“However, my nephew was shot four times,” she said, including once in the abdomen area and three times in the leg.
Green said her son is her only child.
“He’s not a statistic. He’s a graduate from college last year. So he’s educated. He was going out with his educated cousin to just celebrate the weekend, and they had not made it into the club as of yet,” she said.
“They said that some guys, three guys that they noticed … they just started shooting … for whatever reason, we don’t know.”
The Miami-Dade Police Department is asking anyone with information about the shooters or their whereabouts to contact authorities.
“These are cold-blooded murderers that shot indiscriminately into a crowd and we will seek justice,” Ramirez tweeted. “My deepest condolences to the family of the victims.”
TV personality and Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the mass shooting, the businessman tweeted Sunday.
The police director thanked Lemonis for his offer and reminded the public that tipsters can stay anonymous by contacting Crime Stoppers.
“We need our county to step up with information,” Ramirez said.
“This type of gun violence has to stop. Every weekend, it’s the same thing. This is targeted. This is definitely not random,” said Ramirez.
On Sunday, Ramirez tweeted that the Miami division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) added an additional $25,000 to Lemonis’ reward, bringing it to $125,000.
On Friday, another shooting in the Miami area left at least one person dead and six others wounded.
That mass shooting took place in Miami’s Wynwood district late Friday night.
Police said they’re looking for a silver Nissan Maxima that may have been involved in that shooting.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday offered his condolences to the victims of those attacked in the latest shooting.
“We mourn the loss of the two victims and are praying for the recovery of the more than 20 people injured at El Mula Banquet Hall near Hialeah,” DeSantis tweeted Sunday.
“We are working with local authorities to bring justice to the perpetrators.”