(WSVN) - Deserted golf courses are not uncommon in South Florida. But neighbors say one has become a dangerous shooting range for assault rifles. 7’s Brian Entin investigates.
When you drive by, Keys Gate Golf Course in Homestead looks beautiful. But get a little closer, and you quickly realize it is deserted.
The clubhouse is boarded up and falling apart. There’s graffiti. It’s overgrown. A 10-foot python was even living in the brush.
But that’s not what these neighbors are most upset about. They’re upset — and scared — by the daily gunfire.
Morris Henry, lives next to golf course: “When you hear bullets — pow pow pow pow — you don’t know which way they are going, so we go inside.”
One neighbor recorded this shooting that sounds like an assault rifle.
Josefina Lago, lives next to golf course: “I do hear it, and I’m afraid to get out of my house. I live right across the street.”
Josefina took me on her golf cart off the paved road, onto a dirt path in the back of the course.
It’s an area that scares many of the neighbors.
Brian Entin: “So this is the place?”
Josefina Lago: “Yes, this is it.”
Just beyond the tree line — we find one of the spots where guns are being fired.
There are shell casings all over the place.
Josefina Lago: “Look, there’s another one here. And I’ve seen them bigger than this.”
There are old, burned appliances used for target practice.
Josefina Lago: “Those look like different kinds of bullet holes from different kinds of rifles.”
Neighbors say this is just one of the areas where people shoot — and it’s only about a quarter of a mile from their homes.
Homestead Police say the old golf course is difficult to patrol. It’s so big and it borders county land. They say they have an officer out here every single day, but state law makes it difficult to make an arrest.”
Detective Fernando Morales, Homestead Police Dept.: “We’re in a tricky spot.”
It’s tricky because discharging a firearm in public is a misdemeanor — and an officer has to witness the gun being fired in order to press charges.
Brian Entin: “So if you don’t see them with your own eyes, you can’t arrest them?”
Detective Fernando Morales: “That’s correct.”
Brian Entin: “Is that frustrating?”
Detective Fernando Morales: “It’s extremely frustrating.”
We went with Homestead Police to the spot Josefina showed us — and found more shell casings.
Detective Fernando Morales: “We are working with Miami-Dade and Florida City, all of our law enforcement partners, so we can come to some resolution to this.”
The owner of the closed course stepped in to help after hearing about our meeting with neighbors. He blocked the roads with enormous boulders and hired a welder to reinforce the gates, so no one can get in.
Josefina Lago: “Our paradise, it turned to a nightmare.”
Josefina says she moved here to enjoy the outdoors.
Only time will tell if something can be done to silence the shooting for good.
Over the weekend, Homestead and Miami-Dade Police conducted a special operation near the golf course and arrested six people on gun and drug charges. They also confiscated 10 ATVs.
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