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Nov 23, 2009 12:09 am US/Eastern
Strip Club Fight Claims Second Life
Sources: Men Were Involved In An Argument At A Hialeah Strip Club
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Miami Police are saying the man in this surveillance video is a person of interest. Police have not named any suspects in the case.
Miami Police Department
The families of two men gunned down last week after getting into a fight at a Hialeah strip club are asking for the public's help to find their killer.
Miami Police sources tell
CBS4 that the key to this case may be what happened late Thursday night or early Friday morning at PT's Show Club, once known as Treasure Island, located off the Palmetto Expressway near Northwest 103rd Street. According to family members Franco Rodriguez, 39, and 32-year-old Manuel Suarez had gone to the club and at some pointed had gotten into a fight with another man or group of men.
For Rodriguez's sister, Maggie Torres, her only hope of finding a killer is to go on camera and plead for help.
"Come forward because these monsters have destroyed our lives," Maggie Torres told a group of assembled reporters at the Miami Police Department's headquarters. "We're in our 30s, and we planned a funeral for our loved one, so young, and we're planning a funeral. He didn't deserve this."
His wife Michelle Rodriguez sobbed violently as Maggie addressed the media.
Police say they are looking for a person of interest who goes by the name of "Big Baby."
Detectives released surveillance video of the 6'3'' tall man who weighs between 270 to 300 pounds.
Police said the pair left the club Friday morning at 5:30 a.m. Around 6:30 a.m. a car, possibly a blue Chevrolet Malibu, pulled up to Rodriguez's SUV at the intersection of Northeast 1st Avenue and 10th Street. Someone in the Malibu fired several shots into the SUV and sped off.
Police believe the pair might have been followed after they left the club.
Rodriguez, a father of five, was killed. Suarez was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital in critical condition; he died over the weekend.
"My brother was awesome, a great father of five children. This is really rough. He was a great man. They were just out for a good time. In the worst way, it's a sad situation. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I would just like to see justice served," said Rodriguez's brother, Herman Torres.
One witness who identified himself as "Demetrius" said he was having breakfast at a shelter when he heard the shots that were fired. "It was early this morning. All of us heard it."
Sources say the shooting does not appear to be gang related and police are moving away from the possibility that this may have been a case of road rage.
Records show that Suarez has a record. He was arrested for trespassing in December 2002 and he was arrested and convicted of possessing drug paraphernalia and cocaine. Police have not said why the Hialeah men were in the area of Northeast 1st Ave. and 10th St. when they were killed.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Miami Police Department or
Miami-Dade Crimestoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
CBS4's Sharrie Williams, Gio Benitez and Peter D'Oench contributed to this report
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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