It’s Monday, April 26th - and NBC 6 has the top stories for the day.
No. 1 - A three-year-old boy was shot and killed at his birthday party in Golden Glades Saturday night, police said.
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Miami-Dade police identified the victim as Elijah LaFrance. Family members told NBC 6 the party was for him and his little sister. A 21-year-old woman was also shot at the party but is expected to survive her injuries. A neighbor who lives right next to the house told NBC 6 they were home when the shooting happened and said that they heard 20 to 30 shots - one of which struck his car. He also said his roommate saw the man who did the shooting, but the roommate was not available to comment. Police called the incident a "disgusting act of violence." Authorities are asking anyone with information to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
No. 2 - Police in Miami Beach are looking for a missing woman who was last seen April 18th.
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Tyara Amie, 27, was visiting Miami Beach from Nevada before she went missing, police said. Amie told her mother she was staying at the Fountainbleau Hotel and last corresponded with her mother on Sunday, April 18th. Amie is 5'3" and weighs 110 pounds. She may be in the company of an unknown male, police said. Anyone with information about Amie's whereabouts are asks to call the Miami Beach Police Department at 305-673-7900.
No. 3 - Federally-supported vaccination sites in the state of Florida, like one located at Miami Dade College, resumed administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine starting Sunday.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management said sites will open at 7 a.m. and will have the capacity to administer 3,000 doses of the vaccine every day. People will be able to choose between the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines at the North Campus site. The announcement comes after officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration lifted an 11-day pause on Johnson & Johnson's single-dose shot Friday.
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No. 4 - Miami-Dade County’s Department of Transportation and Public Works announced Sunday that it will be easing social distancing requirements and limited capacity on transit vehicles.
Face masks, however, will remain a requirement while riding on and waiting for transit vehicles. Effective Sunday, Metrobus drivers have been instructed to increase capacity limits to 36 passengers per regular 40-foot buses, and 57 passengers per larger 60-foot articulated buses. Some seats will continue to be blocked off for riders’ safety. While buses will ease their capacity restrictions and the enter/exit directional signage on Metrorail and Metromover vehicles will be removed, the department will continue its increased cleaning and disinfecting schedule. Signage encouraging social distancing at transit stations and on some vehicles will remain in place.
No. 5 - Broward County Sheriff's deputies are being instructed not to enforce a so-called anti-rioting law signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last week, unless it's absolutely necessary.
When it is deemed necessary, the decision must run it up the chain of command before taking action, according to an internal memo. Col. David R. Holmes, the Broward County Sheriff's Office's executive director of law enforcement, emailed district captains Wednesday to say the anti-rioting law threatened to diminish the sheriff’s office’s attempts to connect with the community. The so-called anti-riot law that DeSantis signed last week was a response to nationwide demonstrations that occurred in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Most of the protests against racial injustice were peaceful, but some turned violent.
No. 6 - A sperm whale stranded itself Saturday on the shores of a beach in St. Lucie County.
Officials with Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were monitoring the whale, which was found washed ashore at Herman's Bay Beach on Hutchinson Island, NBC affiliate WPTV reported. One witness, Cristina Maldonado, said she was walking by and captured images of the stranded whale with a large rope wrapped around its lower jaw. To see the wild video, click here for the story.
