Park Ranger Finds Dead Man In Miami's Curtis Park
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Police are asking for the public's help after a man's body is found by the Miami River.
They say he had been shot multiple times.
Miami Police spokesman, Officer Christopher Bess, says it was about 8 a.m. on Thursday when a call came in about, "an unresponsive white Latin male who appeared to be bleeding in the head area."
The victim was discovered by a Miami park ranger in a parking lot at 1901 N.W. 24th Avenue, across from Curtis Park and across from a boat storage area on the Miami River.
"The victim did have gunshot wounds that appear to be the cause of death," said Bess. "Homicide detectives are trying to seek a motive and find witnesses that were in the area. We urge anyone with information to come forward and call Crime Stoppers."
Bess told CBS4's Peter D'Oench, "that's definitely important right now as investigators seek different leads. As you see behind me officers are attempting to find any evidence that can help them solve this homicide and investigators are always urging the public's help for something like this."
Police are not sure what time the victim was shot or if the crime was connected to gunfire that neighbors heard just before 11:30 p.m. Wednesday night.
"I was walking my dog last night in the area about 11:30 and I heard 15 to 16 shots you know in the distance over here," said neighbor Richard Goldberg. "My grandson came running out of the house because he thought something had happened to me. Then I heard 10 to 12 more shots further away."
"I thought they were firecrackers," said Goldberg. "There have been a lot of firecrackers going off around here for the past week."
Edward Scheinhaus says he ran out of the apartment building that he and Goldberg live in when he heard the shots.
"As he went walking his dog I heard a lot of gunfire," he said. "So I grabbed my gun and ran outside to check on him see if he was ok and he was. Then I walked back inside and I heard 8 to 9 shots. I thought at first someone was trying to rob him. There's a lot of bad activity here with people walking around."
Scheinhaus is alarmed by the homicide.
"It is pretty sad," he said. "We need to have more police presence."
For the past 20 years Detlef Sauer has owned and operated an apartment building that is next to Curtis Park and says he has called police about crime problems in the parking lot where the body was discovered by the Miami River.
"For 20 years I have owned property here and for 20 years this has been a drug corner," he Sauer.
Police could not confirm that and one police source told CBS4 that he had not received a large number of reports about drug activity.
But Sauer told reporters at the scene, "this is just a big problem and this drug activity needs to be stopped."
Sauer said he wanted to find out more information about the victim.
"I came down here to see if I could identify him or if anyone could and I wanted to see if I know him," he said.
Anyone with information about this crime should call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477).
Callers will remain anonymous and there is a reward of up to $3,000.
