Miami Beach Declares State of Emergency, Imposes Curfew After Weekend of Spring Break Shootings
Emergency responders carry gunshot victim on stretcher on Ocean Drive
Miami Beach officials declared a state of emergency after a weekend of spring break shootings on South Beach.
The state of emergency will go into effect on Thursday, the Miami Beach City manager said, according to WSVN.
Officials also imposed a midnight curfew beginning Wednesday night.
WSVN reported:
Officials with the City of Miami Beach have declared a state of emergency after a weekend that included shootings and overwhelming spring break crowds in South Beach’s entertainment district.
“We intend to declare a public emergency effective this Thursday,” said Miami Beach City manager Alina T. Hudak.
Mayor Dan Gelber, alongside city commissioners, made the official announcement around 4 p.m. outside Miami Beach City Hall.
“If you want to see what a very frustrated and angry mayor looks like, your looking at him,” said Gelber.
Gelber also announced new measures related to crowd control for the remainder of the spring break period.
“It’s going to implement a midnight curfew, beginning Wednesday night, Thursday morning, at 12:01 a.m., going through the weekend,” said Gelber. “This isn’t your mother and father’s spring break. This is something wholly different.”
“What I saw this year made me look at it and almost cringe. You see that gunfire was almost 10 feet from an officer who was on an ATV, to dive off the ATV and get behind it, because he didn’t know where the gunfire was coming from. That’s a problem,” said Miami Beach Police Chief Richard M. Clements.
More than 500,000 college co-eds descended on Florida beaches for this year’s Spring Break parties.
Spring breakers twerk on the beach in Miami
South Beach officials worked to avoid last year’s mayhem and implemented a new law that limited alcohol sales after 2 am.
Despite a beefed up police presence and extra measures in place to curb violence, gun shots erupted just after midnight Saturday night into Sunday morning on Ocean Drive.
Spring breakers ran for their lives after hearing gun shots.
Three people were shot and transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Video (language warning):
Stampede followed by #gunfire on #Miamibeach on #oceandrive btwn 8th and 9th at 12:16 AM. We were there. Video: @victorpoirier09 @MiamiBeachNews @UniNoticias @wsvn @Telemundo51 @TelemundoNews pic.twitter.com/vY5i2e5WA6
— Anabel Gago (@gago_anabel) March 20, 2022
WATCH:
There was also a stampede on Thursday night – St. Patrick’s Day, in Miami after a gun scare.
WATCH:
We were told that we must bring back cars to #OceanDrive. That the only way to prevent people from “congregating” and “partying” was to erase our dream of a world class pedestrian promenade and have cars replace people.
Last night, St Patty’s day, the thesis was tested. pic.twitter.com/dI0kU7zhoX
— Better Streets Miami Beach (@BikeWalkMB) March 18, 2022
