Audio By Carbonatix
Less than an hour after midnight New Year’s Eve, a bullet fell from the sky and plunged into the chest of a 6-year-old Italian tourist hanging out in the Design District with his family.
City leaders were horrified and immediately set about to help the victim: Miami’s good image.
OK, OK, maybe they cared about the boy too.
But new Mayor Tomás Regalado made it pretty clear the kid wasn’t the only casualty. “It is a public relations nightmare for the city,” Regalado told reporters.
When news happens, Miami New Times is there —
Your support strengthens our coverage.
We’re aiming to raise $30,000 by December 31, so we can continue covering what matters most to you. If Miami New Times matters to you, please take action and contribute today, so when news happens, our reporters can be there.
Many have since asked whether anyone else in Miami was shot New Year’s to significantly less official regret and dismay.
The answer: Yes. Two men, in fact. But neither was a tourist, and neither was hit with falling slugs.
The first shooting went down at 4:15 p.m. New Year’s Day at the L’Boulevard Café, a restaurant on NW 25th Avenue near 36th Street, says Napier Velazquez, a spokesman for the Miami Police Department.
Two men got into a fight, and one man pulled a gun and grazed the other with a shot. Neither was seriously wounded, Velazquez says.
About an hour later, at 5:36 p.m., a shot rang out near 50 NW 11th St.
At least two men were chasing each other in cars when one fired into the other’s vehicle and struck the driver in the leg, Velazquez says. The wound wasn’t life-threatening.
Incident reports for both shootings weren’t immediately available. We’ll update the post with the shooting victims’ names when they’re available.
In the meantime, Andrea Fregonese — the Italian boy — is recovering at Jackson Memorial.
