Police Detain 4 After Reports Of Armed Men On Miami Beach Rooftop
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MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) -- Miami Beach Police detained four men after reports of two armed men in the area.
"I did see a handful of different officers with rifles, pistols, shotguns, the whole nine," said witness Chris Clayborne. "It was the real deal."
Imagine arriving to your vacation spot and that's what you're greeted with.
"Uber driver drops us off and literally drops us off right on the crime scene. Not sure what's taking place cops everywhere yellow tape everywhere they're pushing us away from our hotel we were staying at," Clayborne said.
D.J. Richardson immediately began to regret his reservation for his vacation rental.
"Really started panicking," Richardson said. "I was like, I really don't feel safe here."
About a half hour before they arrived, there was a report of a man with an assault rifle on top of a building at 11th and Collins at around 2 p.m.
"Our officers quickly saturated the area, established a perimeter... when it was safe to do so, we made entry into that apartment that is connected to the rooftop. Inside there were four males which were immediately detained. We also have recovered an assault rifle within that unit with lots of ammunition," said Ernesto Rodriguez with the Miami Beach Police Department.
Police said they found a rifle and a lot of ammunition, but no one was hurt.
A viewer sent CBS4 a picture of the armed man in question. You can see a man holding a large assault rifle. Across from him there's another man who looks to be snapping a picture of the gunman.
"It sounds like they might have been doing it for the Instagram," Clayborne. "I'm not sure."
Richardson added, "Everyone flexes for Instagram, so that's probably what he did."
The reports prompted police to shut down traffic throughout certain parts of the city as they investigated. Traffic was shut down on Collins Avenue and Washington Avenue between 11th - 12th Street. It was reopened just before 3:30 p.m.
Police said the incident was the perfect example of see something, say something. They said a neighbor saw something and called police, allowing them to do their job quickly.
There are no charges yet as Miami Beach Police say they continue to conduct interviews.
