‘Our goal is to eradicate the stupidity’: Miami official fed up with rise in Miami-Dade gun violence
By Keith Jones
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MIAMI (WFOR) — The chairman of the Miami-Dade County Commission is fed up with the rise in gun violence he’s seeing in South Florida.
“Our goal is to eradicate the stupidity that’s taking place,” said Jose “Pepe” Diaz.
Diaz has had enough of the gun violence, and is holding a youth meeting Tuesday afternoon to address it.
“We’re taking this very seriously. We have every asset that we can to help find these cowards who take advantage of these kinds of situations. It’s something we’re not going to tolerate,” he said.
Commissioner Diaz said it’s important to get to our youth early – that it can make a difference. But it begs the question many are asking: Will it really make a difference?
“And they have good reason to ask that question”, Commissioner Diaz said. “We need to make sure they have a future that they don’t just look at being in the corner as all they can have in their life. No! There’s other things they can do in their life. This is where the mentoring programs, paying them to have a job, work with them. That’s one sector.”
It’s a multi-faceted solution.
Youth meetings, coupled with the police department’s “Summer Heat Program” and the mayor’s “Peace and Prosperity” plan.
Beyond that, Tuesday’s meeting will expose what police needs are.
Diaz says that is key.
“Everything possible will be done. Anything the police need, even though they got all the gear in the world, but maybe they need some extra overtime. Maybe they need whatever it takes. We’re working with communications, programs, whatever is needed is going to be talked about and we’re going to get it for them,” he said.
Memorial Day Weekend was one of the most violent in recent history.
A mass shooting by three masked suspects outside a banquet hall in Northwest Miami-Dade left two dead and 21 wounded, including three who were hospitalized in critical condition. Now a second vehicle is believed to be involved.
A drive-by shooting on Friday, May 28 killed one person and injured six others outside a venue in the Wynwood area. Another shooting on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach left two people hurt. Two arrests have been made.
And just this Monday, three teenagers were arrested for their involvement in a shooting on the Turnpike. That shooting took place after they left a Kendall hookah lounge where a separate shooting left three people dead, including a state corrections officer, and left five others hurt.
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