Frustrated by lack of information, police air video of shooting that left 6 injured

■ Police frustrated at a lack of credible information released video of a shooting in Allapattah last weekend that injured six people, several of them teens.

Miami police, frustrated at a lack of credible information from victims and witnesses, released surveillance video of a shooting Sunday night in Allapattah that left six people injured, several of them teenagers.

Citing Marsy’s Law, a Florida statute that requires permission from crime victims to release personal information, police have yet to offer any details on Sunday night’s mass shooting. Not even names of the victims or their ages have been made public. Police also seem to have little or no information on the gunmen who appear in the video taking cover behind a fence as they fire dozens of rounds at their targets.

“The victims are afraid, so we can’t release their names,” said Miami Police Detective Kenia Fallat. “As to what led to it, we’re still trying to find out.”

Police said witnesses gave scant descriptions of the shooters, and a law enforcement source said there is additional video that has not been released.

The lack of information coming from victims and witnesses has become an alarming trend in a region that has been racked by gunfire and murders the past year as the public continues to deal with the still quickly spreading coronavirus and police grapple with how to patrol the streets and stop the violence during the deadly pandemic.

Only two hours before the Allapattah shooting, eight people were struck and injured by gunfire at a Little River basketball court just four miles to the north. Like the Miami incident, Miami-Dade police, who have asked for the public’s help in locating the shooters, said they had not received a credible tip since Sunday night.

A source familiar with the Miami shooting called it a “miracle” that no one was killed. The source believes at least one of the victims was targeted and said several of them were teenagers. All were shot in the legs or arms. Two of them were treated at the scene and released; the other four were transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital.

The video released by police Friday is 1 minute and 44 seconds captured by a surveillance video. It shows a Honda Civic that police say the victims arrived in. It’s parked behind a food truck known locally for making Dominican chimi sandwiches, at the corner of Northwest 25th Avenue and 37th Street. As at least one person gets out of the car, a gray Dodge Charger with tinted windows passes by and makes a U-turn just past the truck on 37th Street.

The Charger then makes a left turn onto 25th Avenue. After the car is parked, three males wearing dark clothing appear and make their way back toward 37th Street, hiding behind dark covering on a chain-link fence, before two of them open fire and unleash about three dozen rounds into the Honda.

Flashes from the weapons’ muzzles can be seen clearly on the video. The trio then gets back into the Charger, which doubles back past the food truck and disappears from view.

“It’s almost a miracle” that no one was killed, said one officer. “They were shot in the arms and legs, mostly.”

Five of the six victims were juveniles. The youngest was 15, according to a law enforcement source. A bullet grazed the head of one of the victims.

Miami police said they were alerted to the incident by ShotSpotter, an electronic device that picks up gunfire sounds. Though police say they don’t know what led to the shooting, they said it’s clear the shooters were taking aim at the car carrying the teens.

“They were the targets,” said a law enforcement source.