Warm up for the seven days of Kwanzaa.
Via Miami Herald
A pair of shootings that injured four people and took the life of another marred Christmas Day in Coconut Grove and Overtown.
In the first incident, police said they received a call about two adult males shot Thursday afternoon near Grand Avenue and U.S. 1. A friend transported one of the victims to the hospital. When police arrived, they found a second man at a home in 3800 block of Charles Terrace.
Both men are expected to survive.
It’s the second incident that adds to a troubling trend this year of drive-by shootings in Miami and Miami-Dade County’s north end. Though major crimes are down overall in most cities around the nation, including Miami, anecdotal evidence seems to suggest there’s been an uptick in in drive-by shootings claiming multiple victims.
nd most of them seem to have a common theme: A shooter pulls up to a crowded scene in a car, steps out and unleashes a torrent of bullets from a semi-automatic weapon into a group of people. Often, with little or no regard for the innocents surrounding the intended target.
The majority of the shootings remain unsolved.
Asked on Friday whether there has been a significant increase in mass drive-by shootings, Miami Police Det. Rene Pimentel said it was a statistical question he couldn’t answer without investigating, but added “it seems that way, for sure.”
In the past two weeks, 17 people have been shot in drive-by shootings. Only one person has died. A teen with a bullet wound to his head survived.