United States: two dead, 20 injured in shooting in front of Miami concert hall

Two people were killed and at least 20 were injured on Sunday when three men “shot at the crowd” outside a concert hall in Miami, Florida (United States), local police said.

“According to investigators, the establishment was hosting an event on the program and several organizers were in front” of the room, police said in a statement. “The individuals’ SUV vehicle approached the storefront of the establishment, three individuals got out and started shooting indiscriminately in the crowd,” police added.

“A targeted and cowardly armed act”

The trio then got back into the car and fled, according to the same source. Two people were killed, while at least 20 injured were hospitalized, at least one of them in critical condition.

In a tweet, Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez III condemned “a targeted and cowardly armed act.” “They are cold-blooded murderers who shot indiscriminately in a crowd, and we will seek justice,” he said.

The United States has a long and painful history of gun violence, with high-profile shootings targeting schools, workplaces and malls. Homicides increased in the country last year.

43,000 firearms-related deaths per year

In recent months, shootings have taken place at a FedEx center in Indianapolis, an office building in California, a grocery store in Colorado and several spas in Atlanta.

Last month, President Joe Biden called gun violence in the United States an “epidemic” and “international embarrassment.”

According to the Gun Violence Archive, there were more than 43,000 gun-related deaths in the United States last year, a figure including suicides.