SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Police took one man into custody after, they said, two people were killed and another was injured in a shooting at a plant nursery in Southwest Miami-Dade.
Miami-Dade Police and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue responded to the scene, on a nursery property in the area of Southwest 200th Street and 200th Avenue, Thursday, at around 4 p.m.
Investigators said a call came in from a woman describing a subject, later identified as 49-year-old Luis Enrique Castillo. “Immediately they put out a BOLO on the radio, and officers responded to the area to assist,” said Miami-Dade Police Alvaro Zabaleta.
“I drove down the street and saw all the cop cars,” said area resident Wescott Trinidad.
Officers found three people with gunshot wounds. Two of them were pronounced dead on the scene.
Paramedics airlifted the third victim to Jackson South Community Hospital with a gunshot wound to the head.
When police spotted the suspect, about two miles away from the nursery, Castillo bailed out of his vehicle and took off on foot. As he wandered through a wooded area, police said, Castillo took out his cellphone and made a phone call.
“What appeared to be a family member approached one of the officers [at the crime scene] and told him the subject was on the phone,” said Zabaleta.
Castillo told police he didn’t want to get killed, so police walked him through a surrender.
Skyforce HD hovered above the suspect as he spoke to officers on his cellphone while he stood in a brush-filled area near Southwest 198th Street and 137th Avenue.
Moments later, the 49-year-old put his hands in the air and dropped to his knees, as four police officers moved in, guns drawn and took him into custody. “He was walking backwards. He kneeled down, raising his hands,” said Zabaleta. “You see that he dropped his cellphone. That is because he was receiving specific instructions on the other line.”
Thursday night, police remained at the scene as they searched for clues.
Trinidad said she’s happy the gunman is no longer on the loose. “When you live alone, as a woman, you want to make sure that they apprehended the person that did it and that you’re safe,” she said.
The surviving victim’s condition is unknown, but officials said he was expected to undergo surgery, Thursday night.
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