Photo credit: @MiamiPD | Twitter
Breaking: 12 Hostages Taken by Gunman in Miami, Two Schools on Lockdown
Breaking news coming out of Miami, Florida where an apparent gunman has taken hostages prompting law enforcement to lockdown surrounding schools in the district.
The Miami Police Department says that they were dispatched to the 1900 block of Northwest 7th Street on a disturbance call when the suspect then took hostages and began making threats towards both civilians and police officers.
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It appears the incident began with an attempted cell phone robbery outside of a business which then turned into a serious threat to the community as well as civilians in the area.
One female has instructed police that she and several others are being held hostage by the gunman.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">update: Following a robbery of cell phone outside of the establishment, Joseph Restaurant, our officers were contacted by a female who came out and stated that they are being held hostage by management. <a href="https://t.co/AjtgH5CoMx">https://t.co/AjtgH5CoMx</a></p>— Miami PD (@MiamiPD) <a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiPD/status/960611287872036866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2018</a></blockquote>
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According to police, the gunman has barricaded himself inside of "Joseph's Club", which is a local bar and grill, and has since taken anywhere from ten to twelve hostages.
The Miami SWAT team as well as numerous Police Officers and Sheriff's Deputies from surrounding jurisdictions are now at the scene attempting to negotiate a peaceful surrender to the potential dangers posed by the armed suspect.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/New?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#New</a>: 10-12 people being "held hostage" in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Miami?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Miami</a> bar/club: cops <a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiPD?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MiamiPD</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/wsvn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@wsvn</a> <a href="https://t.co/OcPoUANqsB">pic.twitter.com/OcPoUANqsB</a></p>— Sheldon Fox-7 News (@fox_sheldon) <a href="https://twitter.com/fox_sheldon/status/960609598968393728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Two nearby schools in the district, Citrus Grove Elementary and Junior High are both on lockdown pending a resolution of the incident as a precautionary measure.
This is a breaking story, we will update with any relevant developments.
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