High-Powered Rifles Used To Shoot Up Upscale Fort Lauderdale Apartment Complex
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Fort Lauderdale police are looking for at least two gunmen who used high-powered rifles to shoot up an upscale apartment complex during a drive-by shooting.
Police say more than a dozen rounds were fired from two different rifles at the Bell Sunrise apartment complex located at 12 Avenue and Sunrise Boulevard across from Holiday Park and the Victoria Parc neighborhood. Until recently, it was called Satori.
Investigators believe that two people in a dark colored vehicle pulled up and began shooting.
No one was hit, but plenty were scared.
Chris, who did not want his last name in this report, was home when a spray of bullets hit the wall of his apartment.
"I heard (gun fire noise) so I'm like 'Bro, what's going on?' I jumped onto the floor, under my bed," he said.
It was just feet from where he was laying.
"That's my window right there," he said as he pointed at bullet holes near his window. "Those three are right above me. That's where I lay my head right there," he said.
Pointing toward another window he explained, "Those three right there, my roommate stays right there."
In the apartment above his at least eight bullets were stopped by impact-resistant glass. Others, however, went right through the windows.
One woman, who did not want to be identified, said she heard a bullet whiz past her.
"I heard three gunshots then I heard, 'zoom,' like the sound of the bullet and I knew that something was happening and I started screaming, 'they're shooting.'," she said.
That's when she raced to the bathroom and hit the floor.
"I was scared for my life. I originally thought it was outside, like a gunfight or something, like arguing. I never thought in a million years they were shooting at our windows," she said.
Police are reviewing surveillance video, looking for more information. The evidence left on the scene is painting a picture for them.
"We have in excess of over a dozen rounds that were shot," explained Fort Lauderdale Police Sgt. DeAnna Greenlaw. "There were several casing left behind, due to those casings that were collected by our crime scene unit, we were able to determine that there were two separate gunmen who were involved in this incident and they were armed with two different rifles."
Some of those bullets hit parked cars, one made it into a man's bedroom, hitting his TV and leaving several holes in his wall.
"Usually like around 10:30 I'm like in my bed, sleeping or watching tv," he said.
The man said was not home when it happened.
"I'm just really thankful I wasn't here," he said.
All of this is baffling people who live there as they try to figure out why this happened.
"We were like, 'is this really going on?' We just couldn't believe it, gunshots, they were so loud and it felt like it was right next to me," one resident said.
Police have not given a description of the two gunmen.
If you have information call Broward Crime Stoppers at (954) 493-TIPS.
