Two people have died and up to another 25 left injured after gunmen fired indiscriminately into a crowd gathered for a concert in south Florida in the early hours of this morning.
Just after midnight three people armed with assault rifles and handguns pulled up to the El Mula Banquet Hall in Northwest Miami-Dade in a white SUV and began shooting.
The banquet hall in the Hialeah area had been rented out for the concert and some concert-goers were outside when the gunmen stepped out the Nissan Pathfinder vehicle and gunfire erupted.
Police said that two concert-goers died at the scene and as many as 25 people went to various hospitals for treatment with some traveling in their own vehicles. At least one is in critical condition.
Two people have died and up to another 25 left injured after gunmen fired indiscriminately into a crowd gathered for a concert in south Florida in the early hours of this morning
Authorities believe the shooting was targeted, but no arrests were immediately announced. After the shooting, the trio of gunmen then got back into the car and fled the scene.
Footage from 7 News Miami shows several of the injured being taken to hospital and investigators combing the El Mula Banquet Hall parking lot.
Many of the victims were taken to Jackson memorial Hospital where a crowd of friends and relatives had gathered this morning to pray and wait for news.
Footage from 7 News Miami shows several of the injured being taken to hospital
Police tape blocks the scene of the mass shooting near the banquet hall that was rented for the rap concert
‘I am at the scene of another targeted and cowardly act of gun violence, where over 20 victims were shot and 2 have sadly died,’ police director Alfredo ‘Freddy’ Ramirez III tweeted.
‘These are cold blooded murderers that shot indiscriminately into a crowd and we will seek justice. My deepest condolences to the family of the victims.’
Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo called for the justice system to ‘throw the book’ at criminals caught with illegal firearms.
‘Most (of) these cowardly misfits don’t fear death, they do fear long prison sentences,’ Acevedo tweeted Sunday morning.
‘Firearms belong in the hands of law-abiding Americans of sound kind, more (must) me done to keep them out of the wrong hands.’
Acevedo called for ‘serious prison time’ for anyone caught using a firearm during the commission of a crime.
A mother of one of the victims Angelica Green told NBC Miami that her son had phoned her in the middle of the night to say he was on his way to the hospital.
Angelica Green told NBC Miami that her son had phoned her in the middle of the night to say he was on his way to the hospital after being shot
‘He called us frantic, telling us he had been shot, that it hurts, it hurts and that he loves us and wants us to know,’ she said.
‘My husband is like ‘no stay with us, stay with us.’ We hop in the car and we’re talking to him to keep him alert.’
Police were seeking help from the community to identify and arrest the shooters.
American businessman and philanthropist Marcus Lemonis tweeted that he will contribute $100,000 for information that leads to capture and arrest of the shooters.
Authorities believe the shooting was targeted, but no arrests were immediately announced
Many of the victims were taken to Jackson memorial Hospital where a crowd of friends and relatives had gathered this morning tp pray and wait for news
‘I’m offering a $100,000 reward to help authorities in my hometown @MiamiDadePD arrest and convict the suspect/suspects .. pass this on,’ he wrote.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called for ‘swift and severe’ justice.
‘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,’ he wrote in a tweet. ‘We are working with local authorities to bring justice to the perpetrators.’
Gun-related homicides have surged across the United States over the past year.
On Wednesday, a public transit worker shot dead nine people at a California rail yard before turning his gun on himself as police arrived.
Mass shootings have occurred in recent months at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, an office building in California, a grocery store in Colorado and at several spas in Atlanta.