Jul 6, 2009 11:41 pm US/Eastern
Gunmen Open Fire On Miami Crowd, 12 People Hurt
Two Or Three Men May Have Fired Into The Crowd
One Woman Was Hit By A Car As She Ran For Cover
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Twelve people were shot when a gunman opened fire at a Miami party.
CBS
More than a dozen people were rushed to the hospital early Monday morning after a gunman opened fire on a crowd at a birthday party in Miami.
Witnesses said the shooting occurred in a parking lot near NW 5th Street and 5th Avenue around 12:45 a.m. when a couple of men dressed all in black walked up to the party goers and unleashed a hail of bullets into crowd. Miami police said two or three shooters may have been involved.
"We heard fireworks and then multiple gunshots. I was just running and then laying on the ground, I was just waiting for everything to clear. The shooting was non-stop," another partygoer who did not want to be identified told CBS4.
Chaos ensued as people ran for cover and their lives. Twelve people were struck by bullets, three were critically injured. Another woman was hit by a car as she tried to escape.
Family members of one of the victims, 21-year-old Michelle Coleman, said she had been a student at Florida A & M University in Tallahassee but had recently moved back home to help her mother financially.
"From what I hear she is not doing well, so all we can do is leave it in God's hands and pray about it," said Rodney Thompson.
Another of the victims has been identified as 17-year-old Anthony Smith who plays football at Booker T. Washington High School.
"He got shot in the side and it went through both his lungs. He's lost a lot of blood and they've got him on a life support machine because he can't breathe on his own," said Benjamin Smith, Anthony's uncle. "The three people who are up there (in the hospital) fighting for their lives shouldn't be up there, cause they didn't do anything, they were just trying to enjoy themselves like everybody else."
Bullet casings recovered from the alley indicate the shooters had an AK-47 rifle and two pistols.
"You have to feel for the public and you have to feel for the police officers and somebody like me who has forty years in this business," said Miami Police Chief John Timoney. "When I started it was pretty simple, it was Saturday night specials and zip guns. They were dangerous but no where near what police officers and the average citizen faces today with high powered weapons carrying at least 30 rounds and where you can have a clip carrying one hundred rounds. It's a serious problem particularly in a congested urban area."
Both Timoney and Miami Mayor Manny Diaz used the incident to renew their call for a federal ban on assault weapons.
"These are weapons of war; they are a danger to the general public, they are a danger to police officers," said John Timoney.
"They're just having a good time, this is summer," said Mahogany Maitland, a victim's cousin. "Who would want to spend the rest of their summer like this, at the trauma center?"
Police say they don't know who the shooters were but believe they had an intended target. Police spoke with that person, who was not injured in the shooting.
The area where the shooting occurred was recently listed by NeighborhoodScout.com as the third most dangerous neighborhood in they country based on FBI crime statistics.
Click here to read the story.
Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crimestoppers at (305) 471-TIPS.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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