2 wounded in South Beach shootout, and a Hialeah teen arrested, police say
.jpg "A woman was shot and wounded, and another was grazed by a bullet during a shootout between two men on South Beach early Monday, police said.")
A 19-year-old teenager from Hialeah was arrested Monday in connection with an early morning shootout on South Beach that left two women wounded, police say.
“I only shot because they shot at me first,” Derrick Antonio Mitchell “spontaneously” said after he was taken into custody, according to his arrest affidavit. The other man involved in the shootout got away. Police are now looking for him.
The shooting happened in the 700 block of Ocean Drive around 1 a.m. Monday, according to Miami Beach police.
Police say they obtained surveillance video showing Mitchell being shot at by a man in the area. Mitchell then took out his own gun — a black 9mm Smith and Wesson handgun with an altered serial number — and shot back five times, according to his arrest affidavit.
At some point during the shootout, a woman was struck and wounded, police said. Another woman was grazed by a bullet. The wounded woman was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center. The woman grazed by a bullet was taken to Jackson’s emergency room. Both have non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
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Shortly after the gunfire, an officer spotted Mitchell, who was still holding his gun, running southbound on Ocean Drive, the affidavit says. He was ordered to stop and get on the ground.
Police say Mitchell then threw his gun into nearby foliage. He was taken into custody and his gun was recovered. The teen invoked his right to remain silent once he was at Miami Beach police headquarters, according to his arrest affidavit.
“If not for the proximity and amount of police resources in this area, tonight’s incident could have ended tragically,” Miami Beach police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez said.
Mitchell was charged with carrying a concealed gun, tampering with physical evidence and having a firearm with an altered serial number.
Police detained another armed man during the investigation, but later released him after it was determined that he wasn’t involved in the shooting, Rodriguez said.
Three other people were shot and wounded in the 800 block of Ocean Drive early Sunday. That shooting sent a crowd of spring breakers running for cover and the three people to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Anyone with information that can help police with their shooting investigations is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
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This story was originally published March 21, 2022 at 7:24 AM.
