Second person dies after Monday's mass shooting of 12 in Miami
The Miami Herald is reporting that a 17-year-old football player, wounded early Monday in a mass shooting in Overtown, outside Miami, has died, officials said.
Anthony Smith died at Jackson Memorial Hospital at 10:50 p.m. Thursday, said a spokesman for the medical examiner's office.
An autopsy will be performed Friday.
The shooting already claimed the life of Michelle Coleman, 21, a Florida A&M University student who dreamed of becoming a nurse.
''Obviously this increases the urgency to bring in whoever's responsible for this,'' said Cmdr. Delrish Moss, a Miami police spokesman. ``What we're looking for now is not just people responsible for shooting up a party but people responsible for a double murder.''
Ten other people were wounded in the shooting.
Police say at least three men -- dressed in black and armed with high-powered weapons -- opened fire on the crowd of more than 200 gathered at Northwest Fifth Avenue and Fifth Street. Most of the injured were teens.
People at the party have been cooperating with detectives and helping them to piece together what happened.
''They're getting a great deal of information and lots of people are being cooperative so they're getting a clearer picture of what happened that night,'' Moss said. ``At this point, there's things we have to keep close to the vest and we just urge anyone who is getting information -- whether it just be someone talking -- to give us a call even if they weren't there that night.''
Smith was shot in the chest. He had undergone several operations at the trauma center, where doctors worked on his lungs and put him on a ventilator, his family said.
Family members said Smith's life consisted of school, football practice, playing Madden NFL on his PlayStation 2 and going to the movies with girls.
He didn't often go to block parties, his family said, but Sunday's party had promised to be the biggest of the year.
Anyone with information is asked to call Miami homicide detectives at 305-579-6530 or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
