Austin American-Statesman

Gunman shot at Trump resort in Fla.

Police: Man shouting anti-Trump rhetoric wanted an ‘ambush.’

- By Jennifer Kay and Freida Frisaro

Gunfire erupted early Friday at President Donald Trump’s Miami-area golf resort, as a Florida man shouting anti-Trump rhetoric fired into the hotel lobby’s chandelier and waited for police to arrive for what one official called an “ambush-type attack,” police said.

Five police officers from Miami-Dade County and the city of Doral exchanged gunfire with the man, injuring him, and quickly ended the threat at the Trump-owned Trump National Doral Golf Club, Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez said.

“These officers did not hesitate one second to engage this individual that was actively shooting in the lobby of the hotel,” Perez said. “They risked their lives, knowing that they had to get in there to save lives in that hotel.”

Trump was not at the suburban golf resort at the time.

Perez identified the suspect as 42-year-old Jonathan Oddi, who lives in a condo building about a mile away.

Perez said Oddi took a flag from a flagpole at the resort and draped it over the counter in the lobby, where he pointed his gun at several people but only fired into the ceiling and light fixtures overhead until police officers arrived.

It was not immediatel­y clear how Oddi gained access to the resort grounds.

“We don’t know what his intentions were in the long term but we know what he was doing at the time — he was trying to engage our police officers in some kind of ambush-type attack,” Perez said.

In plotting the ambush, Perez added, “He did succeed — and he did lose.”

One Doral police officer broke a wrist and the suspect suffered gunshot wounds in his legs in the incident, which began around 1:30 a.m., according to police. Video footage showed the conscious suspect being wheeled into a hospital on a gurney, and Miami-Dade police spokesman Alvaro Zabaleta said Oddi was hospitaliz­ed in good condition Friday afternoon.

Eric Trump, the president’s son and executive vice president of the Trump organizati­on, tweeted early Friday, “A huge thank you to the incredible men and women” of the department­s, adding that “every day they keep our community safe.”

The Secret Service issued a statement saying its agents were at the scene and working closely with other agencies. It added, “No Secret Service protectees or security operations were impacted as a result of the shooting.”

Court records in MiamiDade and Broward counties show a slew of misdemeano­r traffic infraction­s for Oddi, but no felony arrests.

Neighbors and patrons of a nearby gym said they often saw Oddi lifting weights, but they rarely had any interactio­n with the beefy man beyond casual greetings.

“He was always in the gym,” said Lina Diaz, who lives on the same floor as Oddi. “He seemed like a normal guy, nothing aggressive or weird.”

Diaz and other residents woke up Friday morning to police tape blocking a driveway to the building, and officers and media gathered at its entrances.

Oddi worked as a dancer and entertaine­r, and he owns a small dog named Popo, one friend, Luis David Gonzalez, said in an interview with The Miami Herald .

The large Trump-owned golf facility in the growing suburb was surrounded by a heavy police presence Friday. The entrances were blocked with yellow police tape and by patrol vehicles throughout the day.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States