MIAMI -- Police sealed off a 250-square-block area of the Overtown ghetto Wednesday night and helicopters dropped tear gas canisters on the riot zone, where gangs of blacks looted stores, burned cars and shot at policemen.
The violence subsided shortly after darkness fell over the smoking, debris-littered streets. There was no visible reaction in community to the announcement that Nevell 'The Snake' Johnson, 21, whose shooting by police Tuesday night sparked the violence, died of a bullet in the head.
Two days of rioting in the ghetto on the edge of downtown Miami, six blocks from the Orange Bowl, killed one man and injured 21 other persons.
At 11 p.m., Miami's black city manager, Howard Gary, said 'The Overtown area is secure and calm. In the past five hours there have not been any injuries or arrests in the Overtown area, although I understand now that that record was broken five or 10 minutes ago with an arrest for breaking and entering.'
However, there were reports of trouble just to the north in the Liberty City slum, where racial riots killed 18 people in 1980.
Jim Babb. spokesman for Metro-Dade police, said :We are having rock and bottle throwing incidents in certain areas of the county' along 22nd Ave. from 62nd St. to 81st St. 'But we do have units out there and we're taking action to keep large crowds from forming. We've gone on 12-hour shifts and we've put in additional manpower. Obviously we're monitoring the situation very closely.'
In the portion of Liberty City covered by Miami police, authorities said they had received a report of a crowd at an intersection but by the time police got there there was no one in sight -- but a lone bus-stop bench lay in the middle of the street.
When the violence flared anew Wednesday, police traded shots with blacks smashing car windows on an elevated expressway cutting through the ghetto; a number of cars were stoned, wrecked and white occupants dragged from them and beaten. Smoke from burning cars and pungent tear gas hovered over the streets.
Police cars, each containing four riot-geared officers with weapons protruding from open doors, sped from one end of the ghetto to another, answering reports of violence. Police officers said at least two businesses, including a liquor store, had been looted.
Sporadic gunfire was heard in the riot zone from midafternoon until well after dark.
Norman Kasoff, operations director at the Dade County Medical Examiner's Office, said Johnson -- a basketball enthusiast called 'The Snake' because he was tall and thin -- died at 6:45 p.m. EST.
'Oh, God, oh God, my son is dead!', the young man's father outside the hospital. 'Oh Lord, have mercy.'
Johnson's wailing parents were driven away from Jackson Memorial Hospital but his uncle, Amos Thomas, told reporters 'The family doesn't want any violence, but that's the only way to get justice. We must make America know -- if they keep killing us, what else can we do?'
In Palm Springs, Calif., President Reagan said 'I just don't think there is any room for that -- for violence in the streets.' He said Miami authorities had not asked him for any help, but the Justice Department said the FBI would investigate the uprising for any civil rights violations..
Gary expanded the 'restricted zone' in the ghetto from 135 to 250 blocks at dusk, covering nearly three square miles.
'This means that only residents of the restricted area will be permitted to enter and leave,' Gary said, 'and all such persons must have proper and adequate identification.' All gas stations and liquor stores in the zone were ordered closed.
Residents of the ghetto complained that police were throwing tear gas grenades and canisters indiscriminately.
'Any officers involved will be dealt with accordingly,' said Gary. 'I have stopped the tear-gassing except in life-threatening situations.'
However, at the time Gary was issuing his statement that all was quiet, reporters on the perimeter of the riot zone saw police shooting tear gas canisters in the air over a crowd of about 15 youngsters. Jackson Memorial Hospital reported it had treated 12 injuries from the riot zone by 6 p.m., all of them minor. At least one other had been treated at Cedars of Lebanon. Eight were hurt Tuesday night.
A Miami Herald reporter said a tear gas canister dropped from a police helicopter dropped at his feet, and another witness, Dianne Dale, 40, said 'helicopters came over and dropped teargas' near a crowd on 14th Street. 'There were no police down there. I guess they just wanted to stop people from congregating.' At one point reporters could see four police helicopters choppers hovering over area.
Photographer Randy Taylor said he saw a gang of 30 to 40 blacks crawl onto the elevated expressway and attacked cars jammed onto the expressway in the rush hour traffic.
A lone patrolman, Taylor said, sped to the scene 'against the traffic. As he arrived shots were fired. He got down behind his car door, pointed his gun in their direction and I heard shots. He chased them to the edge of the freeway and more shots were fired. Back-up units arrived and they closed off I-95 for about an hour,' creating a massive traffic jam.
After police quelled Tuesday night's riot Gary said he had promised black leaders to pull police out of Overtown, but at midafternoon he rushed 300 men into the ghetto 'to protect the people who live and work there,' he said.
Overtown is just south of the Liberty City ghetto, where three days of race riots in 1980 killed 18 people.
The western edge of the riot zone is also only six blocks from the Orange Bowl, where LSU is to play Nebraska New Year's night. Ed Goss, publicity director of the Orange Bowl Committee, said permission had been granted to go ahead with the traditional high school band competition there Wednesday night.
Dade County Tourism Director Lew Price said the riot is'hitting us like a double-edged sword, particularly at this time.'
The riot began Tuesday night when two officers checking out a video game arcade in Overtown said they saw Johnson with a gun. In taking it from them, they said, one of their own revolvers discharged, striking them in the head. Both officers -- both of whom are Hispanic -- were suspended with pay, as was the officer who killed a looter Tuesday night.
Gary said 'several police officers have received injuries in the line of duty,' although none was serious. Police spokesman Jack Sullivan said 'one officer was shot in the back last night, but he was wearing a bullet proof vest. If he didn't have the jacket on, we'd have a dead policeman.'
A black man, George Brown, 25, told reporters at Jackson Memorial Hospital that he saw a crwod of about 100 blocks pull a white man from a car Wednesday afternoon and begin beating him.
'He was bleeding about the eyes,' Brown said. 'I picked him up, me and another guy and a girl, and we pulled him across the track to the police. We got him to a police car.'
He said he went back into the crowd and at that point police advanced on them. Officers, he said, 'started beating me. They hit the girl too. I felt it was my duty and this is what I got.'
Alice Gardiner, 26, a resident of Overtown, stood on the edge of the restricted area Wednesday watching a car burn and told reporters 'They are looting people who pass by all the way down to Miami Avenue. They're just looting whites' cars. There are 200 to 300 people out there, basically teen-agers.'
Police said a gang of about 50 blacks set fire to a car before its occupant could flee. Officers said they did not know what had happened to the driver.
A gang set fire to Frank Waller's Volkswagen and chased him down the street. Waller, his face covered with blood and looking as though some teeth had been knocked out, was taken to a hospital.
'We were just driving. They threw some stuff in the road then they threw some cinderblocks at the window. We just got out and ran,' the shaken Waller said.
In Tallahassee, Bernadette Phillips, Gov. Bob Graham's deputy press secretary, said if Miami authorities asked for help the governor would send either the National Guard or Highway Patrol troops.
'What resources they request we are prepared to provide them,' she said.
It began about 7 p.m. Tuesday night, after an officer in an Overtown video game arcade accidentally shot Johnson in the head while trying to take a gun from him. The two officers who were in the arcade, plus the officer who killed a looter later in the night, were all suspended with pay, Gary said.
A Miami Herald reporter said he was nearly struck by a tear gas canister dropped from a police helicopter.
Dianne Dale, 40, said 'An hour ago, helicopters came over and dropped teargas' near a crowd on 14th Street. 'There were no police down there. I guess they just wanted to stop people from congregating.'
Randy Taylor, a photographer, said a gang of 30 to 40 blacks crawled onto the elevated expressway and attacked cars jammed onto the expressway in the rush hour traffic.
A lone patrolman, Taylor said, sped to the scene 'against the traffic. As he arrived shots were fired. He got down behind his car door, pointed his gun in their direction and I heard shots. He chased them to the edge of the freeway and more shots were fired. Back-up units arrived and they closed off I-95 for about an hour,' creating a massive traffic jam.
After police quelled Tuesday night's riot Gary said he had promised black leaders to pullpolice out of Overtown, but 'since then conditions have changed to require an immediate police presence in the Overtown area to protect the people who live and work there,' he said.
Overtown is on the north edge of downtown Miami, just south of the Liberty City ghetto, where three days of race riots in 1980 killed 18 people.
The western edge of the riot zone is also only six blocks from the Orange Bowl, where LSU is to play Nebraska New Year's night. Ed Goss, publicity director of the Orange Bowl Committee, said permission had been granted to go ahead with the traditional high school band competition there Wednesday night.
Gary said 'several police officers have received injuries in the line of duty,' although none was serious.
Police spokesman Jack Sullivan said 'one officer was shot in the back last night, but he was wearing a bullet proof vest. If he didn't have the jacket on, we'd have a dead policeman.'
In Washington, the Justice Department announced the FBI -- at the request of Miami Police Chief Kenneth Harms -- will investigate the uprising to determine whether there were any civil rights violations.
A black man, George Brown, 25, told reporters at Jackson Memorial Hospital that he saw a crwod of about 100 blocks pull a white man from a car Wednesday afternoon and begin beating him.
'He was bleeding about the eyes,' Brown said. 'I picked him up, me and another guy and a girl, and we pulled him across the track to the police. We got him to a police car.'
He said he went back into the crowd and at that point police advanced on them. Officers, he said, 'started beating me. They hit the girl too. I felt it was my duty and this is what I got.'
Alice Gardiner, 26, a resident of Overtown, stood on the edge of the restricted area when the violence flared anew Wednesday watching a car burn and told reporters 'They are looting people who pass by all the way down to Miami Avenue. They're just looting whites' cars. There are 200 to 300 people out there, basically teen-agers.'
Police said a gang of about 50 blacks set fire to a car before its occupant could flee. Officers said they did not know what had happened to the driver.
A gang set fire to Frank Waller's Volkswagen and chased him down the street. Waller, his face covered with blood and looking as though some teeth had been knocked out, was taken to a hospital.
'We were just driving. They threw some stuff in the road then they threw some cinderblocks at the window. We just got out and ran,' the shaken Waller said.
The violence broke out again Wednesday afternoon after garbage crews had gone through the area picking up litter from the three-hour outburst Tuesday night.
The initial violence left at least five vehicles burned, three of them police cars.
More than a dozen stores were damaged -- one by someone who drove an auto through the front of it.
Dade County Tourism Director Lew Price said the violence is 'hitting us like a double-edged sword, particularly at this time.' He said thousands of dollars had been spent on tourist promotion for Orange Bowl week to try to revive the city's sagging economy.
In Tallahassee, Bernadette Phillips, Gov. Bob Graham's deputy press secretary, said if Miami authorities asked for help the governor would send either the National Guard or Highway Patrol troops.
'What resources they request we are prepared to provide them,' she said.
