MIAMI, June 28 (UPI) -- The shooting death of a man at a Miami Beach hotel and a strong odor that assaulted responding officers and led to evacuations, remain unexplained, police say.
Police responding to a call of a fatal shooting Saturday night at the Miami Beach Resort and Spa say they were hit with choking fumes as they got off the elevator on the 11th floor, The Miami Herald reported.
Officers evacuated about 1,000 people from the hotel, including 100 attending a wedding reception and 300 guests gathered to hear the prime minister of Belize speak in a different banquet room, the newspaper said.
A hazardous material team was called in.
Hotel staff and guests were kept outside for several hours until officials determined the odor was not hazardous and allowed them back in about 3 a.m.
The name of the 11th floor shooting victim had not been released. It was not clear if he was a hotel guest, police said, nor had it been determined if the shooting was a homicide or a suicide.
As for the choking fumes, but the time the hazardous material team arrived, the odor was too weak for the test equipment to identify.
"It could have been a combination of anything,'" Miami Fire-Rescue Lt. Ignatius Carroll Jr. said.
