Miami city leaders plan to shut liquor stores for 2024 spring break after fatal shootings
Miami city leaders held a meeting to essentially cancel next year’s spring break after celebrating the holiday period saw two people shot to death over a 72-hour period.
During a commission meeting Monday, Mayor Dan Gelber expressed his strong opposition to the boisterous Spring Breakers coming to Miami Beach. Plans discussed included closing liquor stores, installing metal detectors and hosting ticketed events for the coming year.
The weekend beginning March 17 saw two fatally shot men and revelers jumping into a car, fighting in the streets and even vandalizing a slushie shop on Main Street, despite the city imposing a curfew. Sunday night.
Jordan Idahosa, 21, was shot at 10:40 p.m. on the night of March 17 in the South Beach neighborhood, one of two people killed during the wild weekend of student debauchery.
Footage of the incident showed people diving for cover and fleeing from multiple gunshots. Several blocks were cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape.
During a commission meeting Monday, Mayor Dan Gelber expressed his strong opposition to the boisterous Spring Breakers coming to Miami Beach.
The weekend beginning March 17 saw two fatally shot men and revelers jumping into a car, fighting in the streets and even vandalizing a slushie shop on Main Street, despite the city imposing a curfew. Sunday night.
The second shooting happened around 3:30 a.m. Sunday on Ocean Drive in South Beach, according to Miami Beach police. A man was shot and later died at a hospital, and officers pursued a suspect on foot, police said on Twitter.
His name has not been released and the suspected gunmen in both shootings have been arrested.
Gelber said during a commission meeting Monday that he wants to make Miami Beach a less desirable destination for Spring Break partygoers.
This year, police from various South Florida agencies found the crowds difficult to maintain.
During the meeting on Monday, Gelber said: “We are doing everything we can to tell the world that we don’t want them here.”
Jordan Idahosa, 21, (pictured) was shot at 10:40 p.m. on the night of March 17 in the South Beach neighborhood, one of two people killed during the wild weekend of student debauchery .
Gelber and city officials said the violence and chaos of the past have led them to predict it will continue into future spring break unless they take steps to prevent it.
“This is not an all-inclusive resort where people can do whatever they want,” Gelber said. We are certainly not Las Vegas or New Orleans.
Miami Beach officials voted in favor of a curfew on South Beach and the closure of liquor sales beginning next March, though a final decision on a crackdown on liquor sales has yet to be made.
On Monday, Miami Beach police released citywide numbers between February 27 and March 27, which includes the peak time of spring break.
A total of 488 arrests were made, and more than half of them were felony arrests.
The chaotic weekend saw two men shot to death, including this gruesome moment when Dontavious Polk allegedly shot a man at point blank range on Ocean Drive early Sunday morning.
Police said 105 firearms were seized.
The possibility of reversing the liquor sale will be discussed again at a meeting next month.
Miami Beach officials have imposed a curfew effective the evening of Sunday, March 19.
The city said in a news release that two separate shootings on Friday night and early Sunday that left two people dead and “excessively large and unruly crowds” led to the decision.
The press release said the curfew would be from 11:59 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday, with an additional curfew likely to be in place from Thursday through Monday, March 27.
The curfew was mainly for South Beach, the most popular party location for Spring Breakers.
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said in a video message released Sunday after the shooting that the crowds and the presence of numerous firearms have “created a danger that cannot go unnoticed” despite the massive police presence. and many city sponsored activities aimed at keeping people. busy.
‘We don’t ask for spring break in our city. We don’t want spring break in our town. It’s too loud, it’s too messy, and it’s too hard to police,” Gelber said.
Over that weekend, Miami suffered hundreds of arrests, while Fort Lauderdale only had one or two minor incidents with its bikini-clad crowds.
After students partied all day, there were violent clashes with police in the evening, as officers had to use pepper balls to disperse crowds in Miami.
Fort Lauderdale authorities said there were “no major incidents” related to spring break 2023, except for a teenager assaulting Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen, and a separate incident of a fight with a security guard at a bar.
Ohio breakwater Max Edward Hartley, 19, violently attacked the one-armed drummer outside the Four Seasons.
A police report from Fort Lauderdale police said Hartley, of Ohio, was hiding behind a pillar outside the hotel before lunging at the drummer and knocking him to the ground, causing him to hit his head.
Last year, the city imposed a midnight curfew following two shootings also on Ocean Drive.
The year before, there were about 1,000 arrests and dozens of guns seized during a rowdy spring break that prompted Miami Beach officials to take steps to defuse the situation.