Three people were killed and at least five others injured in a drive-by shooting in southern Florida early Sunday – just a week after a mass shooting in the same area.
One or two cars pulled up to a strip mall and opened fire on a crowd of people leaving a graduation party, Miami-Dade police said.
Two of the dead were passengers in a car that crashed into a wall nearby as it fled the scene, police said. A gun was found in the car, cops said.
Correction Officer Tyleisha Taylor died from gunshot wounds, police said. She had worked for the Florida Department of Correction (FDC) at the Dade Correctional Institution since 2020, NBC 6 reported.
“We are devastated to learn a member of our FDC family, Officer Taylor, was killed in a fatal shooting,” department spokesman Mark Inch reportedly said.
“Our prayers are with her family as they navigate this unimaginable loss.”
Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez, director of the Miami-Dade Police Department, railed against continued shootings in the area and discussed the loss of Taylor.
“It just goes to show you the magnitude of this gun violence issue doesn’t just affect community members, it affects the law enforcement community,” he said, a video of a briefing shows.
“This violence has to stop,” he added.
“This is extremely frustrating. Every weekend it’s the same thing. And we just got to band together.”
The shooting is still under investigation and police were asking for the public’s help in getting information.
Ramirez tweeted condolences to the families later Sunday.
“Our community was again painfully struck by gun violence overnight,” he wrote.
“No one is immune, this shooting took the life of a correctional officer. We all have the responsibility to report these killers.”
The shooting came exactly a week after two were killed and more than 20 hurt in a mass shooting outside a rap concert in northwest Miami-Dade County.
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