MIAMI — Family members are expressing gratitude after a local boxing coach survived a shooting inside a Liberty City gym.
“The doctor said he was extremely lucky to have survived that,” said Krystal Rodriguez.
Her father, Mario Rodriguez, is the man who was shot.
“He was shot six times,” she said. “Five of them hit him and that they gave him a certain amount of blood.”
Her 54-year old father is a boxing coach who was on the job at his Miami gym last week, leading a sparring match between children.
That’s when police said one of the parents, 41–year-old Boyisee Denmark, became aggressive over the choice of a competitor, using vulgar language.
Coach Mario’s daughters said their dad tried to calm things down.
“He was trying to de-escalate because it was in front of kids,” said Krystal Rodriguez.
According to police, at some point, Denmark pulled out a gun and repeatedly fired at Coach Mario.
“The shooter attempted to shoot him in his face, so one of them hit his hand because he covered his face,” Krystal Rodriguez said. “So that one was the one that broke the bone in his hand.”
Coach Mario is the owner of the gym. He suffered critical injuries to his arm abdomen, thigh, knee and buttocks.
Police arrested Denmark moments later in front of the same gym.
A judge later ordered him to be held without bond on an attempted second-degree murder charge.
Once healthy enough, Coach Mario’s daughters believe he’ll be back in the ring helping young boxers.
“That’s his passion,” Krystal Rodriguez said. “There’s nothing that could stop him, even this. He’s already been talking about it, coming back to the gym. H’s looking forward to it despite what happened.”
The family has created a GoFundMe to help with Coach Mario’s medical expenses, and that page can be found by clicking here.
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