2 shot at Miramar birthday party

BY DIANA MOSKOVITZ

dmoskovitz@MiamiHerald.com

A Miramar birthday party came to an abrupt end when gunshots were heard coming from a home early Sunday, striking a visitor from the Orlando area and a disc jockey, according to Miramar police.

Hours after the party was over, DJ Rohan Omar McLaughlin 26, and partygoer Brandy Dudley, 27, were hospitalized with gunshot wounds, McLaughlin in the torso and Dudley in the hip, Miramar police spokesman Bill Robertson said.

Both were expected to survive.

Here is what Robertson said led up to the shooting:

Dudley was visiting from the Orlando area with a friend, India Footman, 21, and both were at a party with about 50 people at a home in the 14800 block of Southwest 54th Street in Miramar.

At some point, Footman and a man started fighting, and Footman was punched in the face. It was shortly before 4:30 a.m.

'So she gets her friend, who was in a bedroom, and says, `Let's go get out of here,' '' Robertson said.

But instead, there was another confrontation, and Footman was punched again by a second person.

Dudley responded -- by pulling out her gun.

Dudley never pointed the weapon, but someone saw it, yelling ''gun!'' Robertson said.

Two men rushed up to Dudley, who responded by shooting.

Another shooter quickly joined in, this time a man on a nearby staircase. Investigators believe it was one of his shots that struck Dudley in the hip.

And somehow in the spray of bullets, the DJ, McLaughlin, was shot several times.

''We're still trying to determine where the bullet came from that struck the DJ,'' Robertson said.

As shots rang out, partygoers dispersed. Dudley ran to a house a few doors down, where she was found, then taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood.

McLaughlin had two other men from the party take him to Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines. He later was transferred to Memorial Regional.

As for Footman, she ran to another house, separate from her friend. There, she was beaten up again by several men until a neighbor came out, and the men ran off.

On Sunday, police were still searching for all the weapons used and trying to identify the shooter on the staircase.