2 dead, more than 20 injured in Florida banquet hall shooting

HIALEAH, Fla. (AP) — Two people died and an estimated 20 to 25 people were injured in a shooting outside a banquet hall in South Florida, police said.

The gunfire erupted early Sunday at the El Mula Banquet Hall in northwest Miami-Dade County, near Hialeah, police told news outlets.

The banquet hall had been rented out for a concert. Three people got out of an SUV and opened fire into a crowd outside with assault rifles and handguns, police director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez III said. Authorities believe the shooting was targeted.

Two people died at the scene, police said. As many as 25 people went to various hospitals for treatment.

No arrests were immediately announced.

“This is a despicable act of gun violence, a cowardly act,” Ramirez told the Miami Herald.

“This type of gun violence has to stop. Every weekend it’s the same thing,” Ramirez said during an early morning news conference.

Gun violence ushered in the Memorial Day weekend in South Florida when dozens of shots wer e fired outside another gathering in Miami’s Wynwood area. The shooting late Friday killed one person and injured six others.