Gunfire Erupts Overnight In Broward, Two Separate Shootings, Three Dead
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - It was a violent night in Broward County last night. Ten people were shot in two different incidents. Three people died of their injuries.
Just before 10 p.m. Monday night, three people in a white convertible Ford Mustang were heading south on State Road 7 in Miramar when they were fired on by the occupants in a second vehicle during some type of altercation.
The shooting went on for several blocks. The car had more than a dozen bullet holes in it when it crashed near the Captain Max restaurant in the 3700 block of SR 7.
"When you look at a shooting of this magnitude, with the number of rounds that were fired at just one vehicle, we do obviously believe that they were targeted," said Miramar police spokeswoman Tania Rues.
Surveillance video shows what appears to be the white Mustang driving slowly, likely after the driver was shot. Then we see the door open. This may be where when one of the passengers rolled out of the car. All three men in the car were killed.
"We don't know how this began. That is one of the questions we're asking ourselves, where did this start, why? We don't have a motive," said Rues.
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About 45 minutes later gunfire erupted in a Lauderhill business district.
Around 10:45 p.m., Lauderhill police sent officers to a Lauderhill plaza near State Road 7 and NW 19th Street after receiving multiple calls about a shooting. When they arrived, they found two people who had been shot, a car riddled with bullets, and glass was blown out of business' windows.
Soon after, Lauderhill Police received calls from area hospitals reporting additional gunshot victims. In total, five men and two women had been injured in the shooting. Two of the victims are on ventilators, one is in critical condition.
Statements by the injured and witnesses at the scene indicate they heard the gunfire and ran for cover. No one actually saw who was shooting.
"He could see the muzzling firing, it was crazy," said Franklin Lagos, who owns a nearby business. One of his employees was there when it happened.
"All of a sudden shots just started ringing out. He said it was pandemonium, people were running in every direction. They were actually hiding under his tow truck to try to get away from the bullets," said Franklin.
Police said it appears there was a party going on when someone opened fire.
"We did recover multiple shell casings, different types of shell casings, and a couple of firearms at the scene. This would suggest the rounds were coming from different guns," said Lauderhill Police Lt. Mike Santiago.
Alex Piquero, the head of Sociology at the University of Miami, studies crime trends. With 10 people shot in Broward overnight and another 13 on Sunday in Miami-Dade, Piquero sees this sees as part of a national problem compounded by Covid fatigue and increased gun sales and thefts.
"A lot of big cities our size, like Dallas, Philadelphia, as well as Minneapolis and Milwaukee and Seattle, are seeing the same kind of patterns of these shootings and homicides," he said.
Anyone with information on either shooting is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (954) 493-TIPS (8477).
