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The US has the highest level of firearm homicides among high-income countries with populations over 10 million. (Representative image)
Two killed, seven wounded in Florida martini bar shooting. Incident escalates from altercation, highlighting US firearm violence issue
Two people were killed and seven were wounded, including a police officer, in the US state of Florida on Saturday, police said. The incident happened during a shooting at a martini bar in Doral.
A fight broke out around 3:30 am at the Florida bar at the CityPlace Doral mall in Doral. When a security guard intervened, an unnamed man took out a gun and shot and killed the security guard, Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta said.
Two off-duty police officers who were also providing security returned fire, with one of them killing the shooter. One of the officers, a four-year veteran of the force, was shot in the leg and applied a tourniquet to himself, Doral Police Chief Edwin Lopez told reporters.
The City of Doral Police Department alongside Miami-Dade Police Department and the Federal Department of Law Enforcement are currently working a police shooting investigation at City Place in Doral. At this moment our officer is in stable condition pic.twitter.com/pSrXfr3wa2— Doral Police Dept. (@DoralPolice) April 6, 2024
Six other bystanders were also hit by gunfire, five men and a woman, Lopez said. The wounded officer has been released from a hospital, WTVJ-TV reported. The six bystanders remain hospitalised, with two in critical condition, Zabaleta said. A resident of a nearby apartment told WPLG-TV that he heard a hail of gunfire.
“Around 3:15 or 3:30 in the morning, I heard three initial gunshots,” said William Suedois. “Didn’t really know where it was coming from. I thought it was fireworks. Then I heard probably 10 or 15 directly after that — very, very fast and very loud. It was very scary — very scary.” Zabaleta said it’s “way too early to know” who shot who.
He said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shootings, while Miami-Dade Police are investigating the two deaths. Investigators also said Saturday they could not yet say why the fight broke out. Officers continued to interview witnesses at the bar well after sunrise Saturday, while parts of the mall remained roped off as crime scene technicians gathered evidence.
The security guard who was killed has not yet been identified. The US has the highest level of firearm homicides among high-income countries with populations over 10 million, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
(With agency inputs)
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