Three killed and several wounded in shooting after graduation party in Florida
‘Families are destroyed over senseless violence, over stupidness, reckless shooting, innocent people getting hit’
At least three people have been killed and multiple individuals have been injured after a shooting following a graduation party in Florida.
The shooting occurred at around 2am on Sunday morning in a hookah lounge in a strip mall in Kendall in Miami-Dade County, southwest of Miami.
It’s the second mass shooting to take place in the area on consecutive weekends, police said.
Miami-Dade Police director Freddy Ramirez said at a news conference that a torrent of gunfire erupted as one or two cars drove up to the strip mall and someone in them started firing on people leaving the lounge.
Police said two men and one woman were killed and six others, three men and three women, were taken to hospital using private vehicles.
Mr Ramirez said the woman who was killed was a corrections officer.
An all-points bulletin was sent out for a dark Chevrolet Malibu and a white Toyota Camry. Witnesses saw the cars quickly drive away from the scene of the shooting.
A car that was carrying two of the victims who died from their bullet wounds crashed into a wall at the campus of Miami Dade College. A weapon was found in the car, but it was not clear if it was used in the shooting.
Police announced that the six injured individuals were in stable conditions. There have been no arrests made yet.
“This violence has to stop. This is completely frustrating. Every weekend is the same thing,” Mr Ramirez said. “We’ve got to stop it here in Miami-Dade County. We’ve got other victims and their families that are destroyed over senseless violence, over stupidness, reckless shooting, innocent people getting hit.”
He added in a tweet on Sunday: “Our community was again painfully struck by gun violence overnight. No one is immune, this shooting took the life of a correctional officer. We all have the responsibility to report these killers. My deepest condolences to those affected by this intentional act of violence.”
The shooting occurred just a week after three people were killed and 20 were injured in a shooting outside a banquet hall in Hialeah, also in Miami-Dade County, northwest of downtown Miami.
No arrests have been made in connection to this shooting, which took place 17 miles north of Kendall.
Police have put out a security video showing a stolen SUV driving up to the El Mula banquet hall and starting to fire at people leaving a concert in honour of a local rapper's birthday.
This took place just two days after yet another shooting, this time in Wynwood, just north of downtown Miami, where one person was killed and six were wounded after a drive-by shooting.
The rise in gun violence pushed Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to increase enforcement and protective measures specifically in areas with historically high levels of crime and where illegal businesses have been busted.
“The safety and wellbeing of all our families and neighbourhoods is my top priority, and we must put an end to this cycle of violence and senseless killings,” Ms Levine Cava said in a statement. "I am fully committed to making sure Miami-Dade Police Department has all the resources needed to pursue these criminals and keep our community safe.”
“Starting this weekend, we are deploying joint Police and Code Enforcement Units to investigate and shut down businesses operating illegally, specifically in areas that [the Miami Dade Police Department] has identified as high-risk and with a history of problematic behaviour,” she tweeted on Saturday.