Panic in the park after gunfire heard near youth baseball game in Cutler Bay
CUTLER BAY - Children and their family members on Tuesday described how frightened they were the night before when they heard gunshots during their youth baseball game at Franjo Park in Cutler Bay.
Video taken during the game shows young children and adults running for cover, unsure where the gunfire was coming from.
"It sounded like fireworks," 8-year-old baseball player Justin Villalona told CBS News Miami. "I was scared. It was really bad. I felt like I was going to throw up. I ate three pizzas."
Steve Flynn, the boy's grandfather, said he was "pretty shaken up. Kept him out of school today. He was really crying. He was on third base running in (when shots were fired.)"
Frank Villalona, the boy's father, said "most parents thought it was an active shooter drill so we took precautions to make sure they were safe."
Mickey Lopez was coaching the Franjo Seminoles when he heard the rapid gunfire.
"The pops, you think that could be possible firecrackers, but the consistency of the rounds of the guns being fired, we knew instantly," Lopez said.
"My concern is the children, the families, we want to protect them. So instantly we knew to get down and find cover."
CBS News Miami learned shots were fired in two different areas.
Two men were taken Jackson South Medical Center after the shooting, Miami-Dade police said Monday night. At 7:47 p.m., officers responded to reports of a shooting in the 21000 block of SW 89 Avenue, Detective Angel Rodriguez said.
The children were playing for two teams in the Perrine Baseball and Softball Association. CBS News Miami has learned the Association and town of Cutler Bay are working together to develop a plan in case something like this were to ever happen again.
Daniella Madrid said her father's car was hit by bullets during the shooting. The car was parked in front of their home, which is near the park where the game was going on.
"My heart just sinks like, like, seeing how many bullet shots are in there, because my dad could have been in the car," Madrid said. "I could have been in the car. Like that would have killed me, my niece could have been in the car. What if there was a kid in the backseat? Like, the bullet shots went through. Look at this. All the windows are shattered. Like, this is metal," she said pointing to the bullet holes in the car's body.
Madrid said the shots were fired outside her home shortly before 8 p.m.
"It turns out that our neighbors actually had a shootout happen," she said. "I can't share too many details, because the cops just went ahead and specified that it's a really bad situation. Essentially there were two men, they were sitting right by our car. It turns out that one of the people that were in the other car, they went around into the baseball park, they turned back around into the cul-de-sac and they were shooting with rifles,."
No injuries were reported at the park, but near Madrid's home two men were shot; one in the foot, the other in the thigh. Police said both injuries were non-life threatening.
"Detectives did say that the people involved, they're very bad people," Madrid said. "I mean, criminally, they didn't care about anyone else's safety, besides their own and, you know, like their own benefit. But it's really unfortunate. It's just, like I said, like, I never thought that Cutler Bay, out of all places, would bring that sort of energy here,."
Madrid also told CBS News Miami: "I felt angry. I felt angry because I have a niece and nephew their age. I know what it is like to see something traumatic and it is terrifying to see this happening. The people who did it are so in humane and the children are traumatized. There are at least 13 bullet holes in my father's car."
Charles Guevara, the manager of the Ground Zero Barber shop, said: "One of the bullets penetrated the front glass here and one bullet went inside. It is crazy. We live in a good community and for this to be happening when kids are playing in a game, this is terrible."
Miami-Dade Police say they are looking for leads and say they are looking for a silver car but do not have a detailed description of it or a motive for the shooting.
Anyone with information that can help should call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477).
