They prayed for a woman killed by gunfire. Then bullets rained and 4 more were shot
Police working the unsolved murder of 30-year-old mother of four, Victoria Tutson, were aware a vigil would be held in her honor on Tuesday night near the street corner where she was shot and killed two weeks ago.
Yet an hour after the vigil concluded and as dozens of people lingered near Northwest 20th Avenue and 65th Street, a vehicle drove by with someone inside firing shots.
When police arrived, they found three people with bullet wounds. A fourth shooting victim was driven to the hospital by friends or family. All four are stable, police said.
“We believe it’s related. But we’re not certain,” said Miami homicide police Lt. Keandra Simmons.
Tutson was shot on Sept. 26 as she sat in a car with a male friend at the corner of Northwest 17th Avenue and 65th Street — three blocks from where the four people were shot Tuesday night.
Though the shootings were only a few blocks apart, they happened in different policing districts and are now being investigated by both Miami and Miami-Dade police. Tutson was killed near Liberty Square in Miami. The four people shot Tuesday night were injured just to the west in Lincoln Fields in unincorporated Miami-Dade.
Earlier Tuesday, Tutson’s family came forward asking for the public’s help in finding the shooter.
Police don’t believe Tutson was the intended target in the Sept. 26 shooting, a law enforcement source said. They questioned the man with her, then released him. He hasn’t been named. Police now believe he may have been the intended target.
Tuesday night’s shooting happened at 8:30 p.m., more than an hour after the vigil concluded, but in an area where dozens of people stayed around to talk and remember Tutson.
The four shooting victims ranged in age from 18 to 32 and were all in stable condition, said Miami-Dade police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta. None of the victims had been named by late Wednesday morning.
This story was originally published October 4, 2017 at 5:19 AM with the headline "They prayed for a woman killed by gunfire. Then bullets rained and 4 more were shot."