MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) – Residents of a Miami Gardens neighborhood are on edge after a shootout in the middle of the night had them ducking for cover.
Dozens of bullets fired from automatic weapons were heard late Tuesday night along Northwest 196th Street.
One resident’s surveillance camera captured footage of the gunfire.
“Around midnight, ‘bam,’ I start seeing a whole lot of, you know, really loud automatic weapons firing,” said witness Louis Rivera.
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The gunfire appeared to be targeting the car that was driving by.
Inside his home, Rivera told his family to hide.
“I run to the hallway and tell my wife, ‘hit the floor,’ because they are outside shooting at each other,” he said.
Rivera’s 6-year-old daughter took cover with her mother.
“I was scared, I was shaking, I was nervous,” said Rivera’s daughter.
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The drover who appeared to be targeted crashed into Rivera’s fence, driving it into the ground before exiting the vehicle.
“One of them tried to jump that fence over there, but I guess he got scared of my big dog that I got back there,” said Rivera.
Another neighbor’s home and truck were also hit by bullets. The resident was unable to start the brand-new truck vehicle, Thursday morning.
As of Thursday afternoon, there was no word from Miami Gardens Police, as neighbors deal with the aftermath of a violent attack in the middle of the street.
“It looked like it was happening everywhere,” said Rivera. “Doesn’t matter if you live in Miami Gardens, you live in Opa-locka, you live in Kendall. I mean, it is happening everywhere. There’s no respect for anything anymore.”
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The top federal prosecutor in Miami is spearheading a new initiative targeting Cuban leaders for prosecution, sources familiar with the plan tell CBS News.
Jason Reding Quiñones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, is working with officials from federal and local law enforcement agencies and the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, to establish a new Cuban prosecution working group, the sources said. OFAC is the office responsible for imposing sanctions.
The group plans to focus on prosecutions involving economic crimes, drugs, violent crimes and immigration-related violations, with a focus on targeting those in the Communist Party leadership, the sources added.
A Justice Department spokesperson told CBS News: “Federal prosecutors from across the country work every day to pursue justice, which includes efforts to combat transnational crime.”
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A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office could not be immediately reached for comment. The plans for the new working group were reported earlier by the Washington Post.
President Trump has indicated he’s been eyeing Cuba’s leaders, after the U.S. ousted Venezuelan President Nicolàs Maduro and brought him to the United States to face drug charges in January, and recently launched a joint war with Israel against Iran last week that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The president told CNN in an interview on Friday that Cuba’s communist government was likely to be toppled next.
“Cuba is gonna fall pretty soon,” Mr. Trump said, according to CNN.
Quiñones and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Yara Klukas are the same prosecutors who are separately leading an investigation into former Obama-era intelligence officials, including former CIA Director John Brennan, over an intelligence assessment that determined that Russia had tried to interfere in the 2016 presidential election to help benefit Mr. Trump.
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Late last year, Quiñones’ office sent subpoenas to former government officials requesting a broad swath of records, including paper or digital documents, text messages and emails associated with the preparation of the intelligence community’s January 2017 assessment.
In recent weeks, updated subpoenas that expanded the date range for the documents were issued in the matter.
Video shows bright orange flames still burning at a warehouse in Northwest Miami-Dade on Friday, almost 24 hours after crews first responded.
The flames broke out before 11 a.m. Thursday, sending towers of thick black smoke into the sky, and crews have been attempting to put the fire out since.
Officials said the structure located just east of Red Road and south of Florida’s Turnpike Extension is more than twice the size of a Costco warehouse and contains hazardous materials inside.
More than 200 firefighters from both Broward and Miami-Dade counties have been fighting the blaze, which officials say could burn for days.
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The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Lives spared, livelihoods lost
Miami-Dade Deputy Fire Chief Danny Cardeso said no injuries were reported.
The driver of an 18-wheeler told NBC6 he was at the warehouse, which stores inventory for shipments, when the fire alarm went off.
He said everyone immediately evacuated, no one was hurt, and everyone inside was accounted for. Still, some workers and business owners fear they lost their livelihoods.
Benny Monción, who owns DBenny Sazón, one of the food trucks parked at the facility, was in tears when she spoke to NBC6 at the scene.
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She said a friend of hers who also owns a food truck called to tell her how he fared.
“He called me just now, we were watching the news, and my truck was still intact, but his, the fire got it,” she said, her voice breaking as she put her head in her hand. “It burned it all up.”
She said she wasn’t sure what had happened to her truck, which normally operates on 50 North University Drive in Pembroke Pines, as the fire raged.
“I ask God that mine at least can be OK, but I feel so bad [that his didn’t make it], because these are hardworking people, looking to earn their daily living that in this country is too hard,” Monción said. “It’s so many things.”
Air quality concerns
A public safety alert was issued at one point Thursday due to the heavy smoke. The alert recommended those with respiratory problems and medical conditions to shelter in place if possible.
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Dr. Donny Perez, a medical director at Memorial Regional Hospital South, said fires like this can send fine particles into the air that can irritate the lungs and cause coughing, shortness of breath, wheezing, chest tightness, sore throat, chest pain and palpitations.
“Even their eyes can get irritated, the sore throat. So the best thing is to stay indoors with the windows closed, avoid outdoor exercise. Wear an N-95 mask if you must go outside. Use your rescue inhalers as prescribed if you do have lung disease,” he said.
Resident Gloria Downey said the smoke was concerning, especially with the uncertainty about what materials could be burning.
“I mean I don’t know what’s in that building, but I have lived here since before that building was built off and on, and God knows what’s in there,” she said. “We have the house completely sealed. We have air filters running in both rooms. The air condition is off. It’s a little hot in Miami, but we’ll be all right.”
Drought and wind may hinder firefight
Winds on Friday are blowing consistently at 10-20 mph toward the northwest, pushing the smoke over a nearby landfill and out over the Everglades.
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“Just a couple of spotty little showers here, not enough to really help with the fire,” NBC6’s meteorologist Adam Berg said. “But the winds certainly don’t help.”
Traffic impacts
Officials asked people to avoid the area while they worked to put out the fire. Northwest 47th Avenue is closed between Honey Hill Drive (Northwest 199th Street) to Northwest 207th Drive.
