1 of 2 | Crime scene tape surrounds two unidentified bodies lay covered with yellow tarps in front of El Mula Banquet Hall in northwest Miami-Dade County, near Hialeah,Florida, Sunday. Numbered cones are seen by spent shell casings from bullets fired at the scene. The banquet hall was rented out for a concert and in the early morning hours a SUV pulled up to the hall, three shooters came out and killed two and injured at least 20 other concert goers. Photo by Gary I Rothstein/UPI |
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May 30 (UPI) -- Two people died and 20 were injured in a shooting early Sunday outside a rap concert at a rental banquet hall described by Miami-Dade County police as a "targeted act of violence."
Miami-Dade Police Department director Alfredo Freddy Ramiriez III posted on Twitter: "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. 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."
Ramirez said El Mula Banquet Hall in Northwest Miam-Dade near Hialeah was rented out for a concert.
At around 12:30 a.m., three people came out of their SUV with assault rifles and handguns and began shooting into the crowd standing outside, he said
Eight victims were transported by personnel to hospitals in Miami Dade and Broward counties, with 12 others going to hospitals by private vehicles, according to police.
Three of those injured are in critical condition, according to police.
Ramirez said no arrests have been made yet.
Crime Stoppers has offered a $30,000 reward for information concerning the shooting. Marcus Lemonis, the chief executive of Camping World and host of CNBC's The Profit, said he would contribute an additional $100,000 to help bring justice to those victimized in his home town.
"[Miami-Dade Police Department], arrest and convict the suspect/suspects," Lemonis tweeted.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said he is mourning the two deaths and praying for the recovery of those injured.
"We are working with local authorities to bring justice to the perpetrators," he said in a statement. "Justice needs to be swift and severe!"
Daniella Levine Cava, the mayor of Miami-Dade County, said she was "horrified and heartbroken" by the start of the holiday weekend.
"I urge our community to be safe and smart," she said. "Please -- don't let any more lives end in senseless violence."
On Friday night, seven people were shot, one fatally, during a drive-by shooting on the street outside a rented party space on property that borders Overtown and Wynwood in the Miami area.
Miami Police Department Chief Art Acevedo on Twitter called for the nation to take gun violence more seriously.
"Mass shootings continue to occur on a regular basis across our country & yet elected officials only about about the militarization of the police on the left and gun rights on the right," he said. "Gun violence is a public health epidemic our nation needs to address."
Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation, Acevedo urged fro greater gun control.
"We need to have universal background checks, we need to make burglarizing these licensed gun stores a federal crime with mandatory sentencing," Ramirez said. "We need the federal government and both sides to address these issues.
"Because without legislation ... we're never going to get through this summer without much more death and destruction. The American people deserve greater safety."
