Florida police investigating whether 3 teens accused of a highway shooting were to blame for graduation party attack
Police are investigating whether three teens who were arrested for a shooting that left one person injured were also involved in a deadly shooting outside a hookah bar in Miami-Dade County, officials said Monday.
It was one of several shootings across the country over the weekend that left at least 16 people dead and dozens injured. This year has already seen more than 8,400 deaths from gun violence in the US, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
According to police, people were leaving a graduation party at a hookah bar early Sunday morning in Miami-Dade when shots rang out, killing a corrections officer and injuring two others. Two more people inside a car that was fleeing the scene died after it crashed and three others in the vehicle were injured, Detective Angel Rodriguez told CNN.
The car had bullet holes in it and police have not yet determined if those who died were shot or killed in the crash, Rodriguez said.
Investigators are looking into whether the shooting was gang-related as the three teens had a known ongoing conflict with a gang called the 700S, according to police.
Police said the teens were in a vehicle watching the party guests, and were known to have an ongoing feud with some of them.
After watching the party for a significant period of time, the trio left the area and were traveling on the Florida Turnpike when they saw a car belonging to someone who was at the hookah bar party, according to the affidavit.
The three teens followed the car and opened fire, hitting the driver in his leg several times. He drove himself to a local hospital and was transferred to another facility and is in stable condition, the affidavit said.
They then fled the scene and were later arrested at their homes where they confessed to firing at the vehicle, according to the affidavit.
They were charged with attempted first-degree murder with a deadly weapon in connection with the expressway shooting.
