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Tag: florida shooting

  • Miami Shooting: Police Blame Lack Of Man Power

    A tragic shooting occurred early Tuesday morning in a Miami neighborhood.

    Reports indicate that the incident took place in Liberty City around 2:30 am, resulting in two confirmed deaths.

    Multiple persons were seriously wounded in what authorities are describing as a “gangland-style shooting”.

    The two murder victims have not been identified by name but include a teenage girl and a 20-year-old man.

    An investigation into the shooting is ongoing.

    Police spokeswoman Frederica Burden said she’s “not sure how it occurred”, meaning it’s not clear what the exact circumstances leading up to the incident were.

    “I don’t know if they were all outside standing, some in a car, some not in a car,” said Burden. “I don’t know that yet.”

    According to a news release from the Fraternal Order of Police, the shooting is the direct result of a lack of police presence in Liberty City.

    Miami City Manager Daniel Alfonso said that city officials will try and reassess their ongoing strategy for dealing with violent crime.

    Said Alfonso, “We are going to work with our law enforcement partners to make it better.”

    Something must be done.

    According to Sgt. Javier Ortiz, president of the city’s Fraternal Order of Police, a “tipping point in the district” has been reached. “The criminal element has no fear of our police officers,” said Ortiz. He noted that criminal offenders were “beginning to act with impunity.”

    He also warned law enforcement officials not respond to calls asking for a pair of officers, as the situation could be far too dangerous.

    “Folks, people are getting killed in groups three blocks outside of our police station,” said Ortiz. He added that the violence should act as a “wake-up call” for investors.

    Miami authorities are requesting that anyone with information about the incident to come forward.

    Image via YouTube

  • Angela Corey Plans To Re-Try Dunn

    Angela Corey Plans To Re-Try Dunn

    The jury in the Michael Dunn case announced on Saturday evening that they could not reach a unanimous decision regarding the count of first degree murder. A mistrial was declared on that count, with the option for Florida prosecutor Angela Corey to retry Dunn at a later date.

    Corey didn’t miss a beat, announcing that she fully intends to retry Dunn on the remaining, but most significant count.

    “Ten times out of 10 when someone fires 10 shots into a car full of unarmed teenagers we will file first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.”

    The successful conviction on the other charges means that lengthy prison term awaits Dunn barring a successful appeal, retrial, and acquittal. However, much of the case hinged on the murder of unarmed Davis and a car riddled with bullets.

    The case drew many parallels with the infamous George Zimmerman case. Zimmerman was found not guilty of the murder of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African American teen who he fatally shot. The teens that Dunn fired upon were also African American and unarmed.

    Like Zimmerman, Dunn tried to justify the shooting, which escalated over the loud music the teens had been playing, under the “Stand Your Ground” defense. It is a defense which some feel provides a racist double standard when it comes to gun laws in Florida.

    Even when racism isn’t at the heart of the defense, the cases involving armed citizens firing on and killing unarmed citizens is setting a troubling legal standard for the state.

    Even if Corey is not able to successfully convict Dunn on the murder charge, it’s possible that the partial conviction may represent some progress towards a precedence where certain scenarios are confronted as attempted murder and cold blooded killing rather than allowed to hide behind a facade of so-called self-defence.

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  • Michael Dunn Verdict: Encouraging Or Terrifying?

    On Saturday evening at about 7:00 pm a Florida jury managed to find Michael Dunn guilty of four charges in relation to the death of Jordan Davis. The case was dubbed the “loud music trial” as the altercation started because Dunn had a problem with the music blasting from a car that Davis was in. Words were exchanged and the situation escalated to a point where shots were fired and a teenager was killed.

    It is likely that Dunn will be faced with prison for the rest of his life as a result of the convictions on lesser charges, including attempted murder. However, the lack of a conviction for first degree murder and yet the willingness to convict for multiple counts of attempted murder is puzzling.

    There was a sense that a hung jury might be possible when it was learned that the jury had reached a verdict on every charge but one, which they were struggling with as late as 4:45 pm on Saturday–less than three hours before the verdict was read. In the end the jury could not decide whether to convict or acquit on the fatal shooting of the 17-year-old Davis.

    The hung jury resulted in the judge declaring a mistrial on the murder charge, which means that Florida prosecutors must now decide whether or not to re-try Dunn for murder.

    The jury included four white women, four white men, two black women, an Asian woman and a Hispanic man. It may be argued in the coming days that the racial makeup of Florida juries is a major deciding factor of guilt or acquittal. After all, Florida juries are made up of Florida citizens. Therefore, it must be asked what the individuals selected for these sort of cases say about the state of Florida.

    Florida is seeing an increase of high profile cases involving unarmed individuals being gunned down and the armed individuals falling back on a “stand your ground” defense. It does not help that the basis for such defense is often seen as in fact “grounded” in racial prejudice, stereotypes, and inexplicable fear.

    The state of Florida is starting to find itself developing a reputation of paranoia combined with an excessive willingness to start shooting anything that moves. More troubling than this is that state citizens seem to be struggling with an ideology where this is anything less than the norm; where they cannot fathom whether or not this excessive fear does or does not justify opening fire at unarmed strangers.

    Dunn, unless his convictions are overturned, may very well grow old in and even die in prison. The family of Davis may or may not see the guilty verdicts as closure.

    Still, others must wonder why Florida citizens are reluctant to call a fatal shooting where murder if it shakes the foundation of “Stand Your Ground”. And even if it’s possible there was no real ground to stand on.

    For those who are uncertain about safety in a state with controversial and potentially lax gun laws, the precedent set by these cases may make individuals mark Florida off their list of places they desire to set foot in.

    Image via Youtube

  • Palm Bay Shooting May Have Been Self-Defense

    There have been no arrests made in the matter the Eastern Florida State College shooting that occurred in Palm Bay, Florida on Thursday.

    The trigger was pulled by 24-year-old Landrick Hamilton, a student at EFSC, who was allegedly minding his own business and sitting in his car when another car pulled up next to him. In the other car were two men: Amado Contreras, 25, and his younger brother 24-year old Landyer Contreras.

    A verbal spat started between the men, soon escalating to physical violence. Hamilton claims that the two young men physically attacked him. Amado Contreras and his brother are alleged to have assaulted Landrick Hamilton with a pool cue, at which point Hamilton reached into his vehicle and recovered a gun.

    Hamilton fired, hitting the older Contreras brother in the chest.

    Contreras was taken to Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne. Police report that he is in fair condition. Hamilton was also taken to an area hospital to treat injuries related to the confrontation.

    It is an incident where all involved are claiming self-defense, including the shooter.

    It has been noted that the shooting comes two months after a Florida appeals court struck down a decision that would keep students from storing guns in their cars on campus. In addition the infamous Florida “Stand Your Ground” law has played a huge role in recent shootings throughout the state.

    Despite this, the college may still decide to take disciplinary action against Hamilton.

    According to EFSC Spokesman John Glisch, the college is waiting to see what the final decision from law enforcement is. However, “if it was his gun, and he did bring it onto campus, he’d be subject to student discipline up to and including expulsion.”

    The college campus experienced a lockdown as a result of the shooting, but it was lifted a few hours later. Classes were canceled for the rest of the week.

    Image via WESH 2

  • Jennifer Lopez: Gunshots Crash Video Set

    Jennifer Lopez: Gunshots Crash Video Set

    Jennifer Lopez endured a scare in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday when gunshots rang out near the set of her new music video with rapper Pitbull.

    Adding to the drama was the fact that Lopez was actually in the middle of being interviewed when the shots were fired. Rob Marciano, co-host of “Entertainment Tonight”, tweeted about the incident live.

    Lopez hasn’t released a statement about the shooting, but initial reports said multiple people were detained in the area soon after. Police say no one was injured.

    Image: Fame Flynet

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