MIAMI SPRINGS, FLA. (WSVN) - It is closing time for a Miami Springs hotel after police raided it once again and began the process of shutting it down.
7News was on the scene when Miami Springs Police, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and Miami-Dade Animal Services responded to the Runway Inn Hotel, located at 656 East Dr., just off Northwest 36th Street, Thursday morning.
Cellphone video recorded by hotel guest Nerly Vazquez captured police officers ordering people to vacate the premises.
“They broke down the door next to me and I heard a boom, ‘Police, police!'” she said. “I didn’t know what was going on in the hotel, so it pretty much all caught me by surprise.”
Police went door to door and told guests to get out. Those who were unable to leave Wednesday night received another visit from officers on Thursday.
The most recent raid comes after three people were arrested at the hotel, Monday night. It’s part of what police called Operation Spring Cleaning.
Miami Springs Mayor Billy Bain and Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle discussed the hotel’s closure during a news conference held at her office, Thursday afternoon.
“The city asked the courts to shut the Runway Inn Hotel down due to an apparent unwillingness to alter their business practices and remedy the criminal activity,” said Fernandez Rundle.
Police activity at the hotel is nothing new. A drive-by shooting occurred on the street back in August.
A 17-year-old was also recently arrested after he allegedly prostituted a 14-year-old girl out of the hotel.
“We have recovered women and children who were being trafficked out of the location or were being provided with drugs,” said Fernandez Rundle.
Pictures shared by law enforcement showed dirty rooms and large quantities of drugs.
Some Miami Springs residents have been asking city leaders to take action on the Runway Inn and the surrounding area along Northwest 36th Street. A total of 178 calls to police were made from the hotel in the past six months.
Meanwhile, managers at the hotel are saying the way this most recent raid went down was not fair.
“They’re kicking everybody out on the street,” said Miguel Sierra, an assistant manager at the hotel. “I have guests in wheelchairs. They’re basically right now inside banging on every door, kicking everybody out of the hotel, shutting down the hotel, no warning. They came in with guns drawn.”
Sierra also said the hotel is being unfairly penalized for the behavior of others, adding that that staff had been working closely with police.
“We’re running a business here, and we can’t control what a lot of people do in their rooms, you know?” he said. “We helped track down those people. We help. We call when we see something’s wrong. When we see something’s going to the left, we try making sure it goes right, and this is the outcome.”
With the Runway Inn closed, more than 100 people are now looking for a new place to stay, including Vazquez.
“I don’t have anywhere to go,” she said.
People from homeless outreach came to the hotel to help out those who don’t have a place to stay.
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