Child suffers cut on the neck during Opa-locka Memorial Day shooting
MIAMI - A 12-year-old boy was injured Monday afternoon after the car he was in was shot in Opa-locka.
The shooting happened about 10 blocks east of Opa-locka airport, near the area of NW 27th Avenue.
Tiara Eleby said she was driving the car with her 12-year-old son in the back seat and her 20-year-old daughter sitting in the front passenger seat. They spent the Memorial Day holiday with a relative then headed home through Opa-locka. However, their trip stalled on NW 27th Ave. near Burlington St.
"As soon as we passed the railroad tracks, we heard a pop," Eleby said. "We all looked at each and tried to figure out what was that and then next thing you know I hear my son screaming."
The boy was cut in the neck by flying glass. He was treated at the scene and then transported to a local hospital.
"I'm just glad he's okay," Toya Williams, the victim's aunt said. "It's sad. Broad daylight. They had literally just left my house. So, to get a call like that, (Eleby) screaming in the phone, it just took me out."
Miami-Dade police sent several officers on the ground and in the air to help search for a shooter.
MDPD, along with Florida Highway Patrol troopers, assisted Opa-locka police and with a police perimeter around apartments on Sharazad Boulevard near Ali Baba Avenue.
Investigators said the suspected shooter got into an altercation with two other people at the complex and then opened fire. A stray bullet hit Eleby's car, police said.
"I could have lost my baby today," Eleby said. "I could have lost him today over a coward shooting (in) broad daylight. It's a holiday, (there are) cars coming back and forth down 27th Avenue, people (are) down here on vacation and everything like that. This could have happened to anyone. Now I'm afraid to ride down there (in Opa-locka). My son is afraid."
The investigation continues. Police have not yet made an arrest.