MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Miami Beach police are investigating a shooting that left one man injured Monday morning.
The shooting was reported just before 6:30 a.m. in the area of 29th Street and Collins Avenue near a Starbucks shop.
“I hear five shots rapid -- pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,” Cole Harrison, who is visiting Miami Beach, said.
According to authorities, officers arrived at the scene to find a man who had been shot in the stomach.
“A white male sustained a gunshot wound. He was transported by Miami Beach Fire Rescue,” Miami Beach police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez said.
The victim was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where he underwent surgery and is listed in critical condition.
Police said two people possibly involved in the shooting fled south on Indian Creek Drive after the incident.
On the ground, evidence markers covered bullet shell casings next to what looked like a white shirt.
Also within the police perimeter was a white BMW with a bullet hole in the driver’s side window. The car was towed away shortly before 10 a.m.
“Detectives know that the white male victim was seated inside his parked vehicle at the time that his vehicle was fired upon multiple times,” Rodriguez said.
Frustrated Miami Beach residents say things didn’t used to be this way.
“I walk every morning,” one woman said. “Locals walk their dogs -- that’s what’s so disturbing. Five-block entertainment district. It breaks my heart I’m a local Miamian for 38 years.”
Southbound traffic at 30th Street and Collins Avenue was temporarily closed due to the ongoing investigation.