NORTH MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida businessman is offering a significant sum to anyone who helps police arrest and convict the people involved in the deadly mass shooting at a banquet hall in Northwest Miami-Dade.
Marcus Lemonis, the Lebanese-born CEO of Camping World, said that if his money can help solve problems, he’ll use it.
“We have too many leaders of companies, owners and CEOs who unfortunately enrich themselves and forget that there’s the back half of that, which is counting your blessings and giving back to people in South Florida,” he said.
Speaking with 7News on Sunday, Lemonis said he is offering $100,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for the shooting that, police said, left two people dead and sent at least 20 others to the hospital.
“I don’t want to ever make this a political thing, and I don’t want to ever want to make it a gun control issue,” he said. “What I do want to make it is a solution issue.”
Lemonis has done it before. He offered $250,000 for information leading to the Nashville Christmas bomber and gave $50,000 to CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski to fund research in pediatric brain cancer after the loss of his 9-month-old daughter Francesca.
But Sunday’s shooting was different. For Lemonis, it hit close to home.
There have been dozens of mass shootings since the upheaval of the pandemic nationwide, and Lemonis said he hopes to solve this case.
However, he recognizes that there is no simple solution.
“Across this country, people are starting to gather again, and we don’t want them to go out and feel susceptible to crimes like this,” he said. “People are out having a nice time after being cooped up for 12 to 15 months for the pandemic, and there’s a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm in a positive way, and unfortunately, there’s a lot of energy in a negative way, so I am concerned about it.”
Last year, when the Jamaican restaurant Jerk Machine in Lauderhill was in danger of closing, Lemonis gave them more than $35,000 to help keep the business open.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo Ramirez III thanked Lemonis for the reward, which is being offered separately from a $30,000 Crime Stoppers reward.
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