A youth baseball coach described the frightening moments gunshots erupted near a Cutler Bay park Monday night.
“At first, you heard the pop, pop, pop, and instantly thought maybe fireworks,” Mickey Lopez said.
Lopez is head coach of the Franjo Seminoles, a youth baseball team that was in the middle of a game at Franjo Park when shots rang out.
“Total chaos,” he said. “I don’t know how we ended up behind home plate, but that’s where we hunkered down with the kids. We threw our bodies over them.”
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Police say the shooting happened just before 8 p.m. near Southwest 89th Avenue and 201st Street. Two men were found shot and were rushed to the hospital in stable condition.
Lopez says he and other parents thought it was a mass shooting and some people ran to their cars to get their guns.
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“All of our kids are a little shook up right now,” the coach said. “We got to get back to normalcy. Once we do, we’ll move past it, but right now they’re scared, and it hurts.”
The shooting happened across the street from the park in front of a duplex.
Daniela Madrid says her dad’s car got caught in the crossfire and was left riddled with bullets. For the past two weeks, she says she's seen a group of men sitting outside wearing ski masks.
“Now you can’t even go play baseball, now you can’t even go outside your house,” Madrid said. “I can’t even get the mail. When does it stop?”
Lopez says the shooting is a painful reminder of how quickly things can take a turn for the worse.
“Death, it’s right there on the doorstep,” Lopez said.
“Right now, we just need to deal with the families and the kids,” he said. “Get these kids confident again about their community.”
None of the children at the games were hurt.
All games have been canceled until Friday.
