HIALEAH, Fla. (WSVN) — As families and friends begin to move on from a mass shooting tragedy that took the lives of six people, residents of the Todel apartments begin the clean-up process and try to get past what occurred.
On Tuesday memorials have been set up for the victims around the apartment building to help families remember, as well as move on from the incident, Friday night.
The incident has caused several residents to chose to move out of the apartment building, including those who were close to the victims. “I’m trying to convince my mom to move somewhere else,” said Rosangela Estrada, a friend and neighbor of one of the victim’s. “I don’t want to live here anymore.”
Clean up also began in the apartment where accused gunman Pedro Vargas lived, which he had set on fire before going on his shooting spree. On Tuesday afternoon, cleaning crews could be seen tossing debris out from the balcony Vargas was attacking victims from.
Hialeah Police said, due to circumstances brought upon by Vargas, their only means of action was to take down the shooter with deadly force. “He was speaking very low,” Police Chief Sergio Velasquez said, “talking gibberish we couldn’t make sense of. We tried to introduce, asked his permission to introduce, a phone into the apartment, he refused that. He didn’t want us introducing anything. There was really no dialog of anything that was moving forward in the right direction.”
One of the witnesses, who chose to remain anonymous, remembers the sound of gunshots flying through the air. “My friend told me throw yourself on the ground and pray,” the witness said through a translator, “grab the Bible and pray and pray, and I said, my God, may the shooter run out of bullets.”
The families of the victims are asking for donations to pay for funeral costs and for the survivors of the ordeal:
HELP FOR VICTIM’S FAMILIES
Checks payable to:
Survivors Pathway
Mail to:
City of Hialeah
PO BOX 138882
Hialeah, FL 33013
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