MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Two people were shot early Monday in northwest Miami-Dade, authorities confirmed.
The shooting was reported in the area of Northwest 22nd Avenue near 74th Street in the Gladeview neighborhood.
Local 10 News had a crew at the scene as a police car was parked behind a black Nissan Sentra that was riddled with bullet holes.
Police said the gunfire detection system ShotSpotter picked up the sound of gunshots in the area around 3 a.m.
Officers arrived at the scene and found two victims had been injured in a drive-by shooting.
It appears the victims were driving when someone in another vehicle started shooting at them, causing the vehicle to veer off the road, crash underneath a fence and end up in the middle of a grassy lot.
“At first, I thought it was firecrackers or a train or something,” witness James Harden said. “I thought it was something else, something heavy. Bop, bop, bop. It was heavy. It was heavy sound.”
Harden lives nearby and woke up when he heard the gunshots.
He said he looked outside and saw paramedics putting the victims into an ambulance.
“I know one was hollering something about somebody had been shot, he’d been shot,” Harden said.
Authorities said one of the men was shot in the upper torso and the other was shot in the leg.
Both victims were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where they remain in critical condition.
Police said the shooter got away, leaving behind more than a dozen shell casings in a three-block span.
Harden says gun violence in this area is far too common.
“It’s hard for me to see because, again, I’m in a war zone. We live in a war zone,” he said. “I hate to say that. I keep saying it, but it’s true. You wake up every day, you fortunate to live in this neighborhood.”
Miami-Dade police went to nearby businesses to get surveillance video and walked up and down the street trying to track down witnesses as they search for clues they hope could lead to the assailant.
A motive for the shooting is unclear.
The victims’ identities have not yet been released.
Anyone with further information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.