Miami Beach declares a state of emergency and imposes a curfew after spring break shootings over the weekend

A state of emergency will be declared on Thursday after five people were shot dead in the city of Miami Beach over the weekend.

City officials said Monday South Beach will be placed under a midnight curfew following the violence from overwhelming Spring Break crowds.

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The incidents involved two separate situations on Ocean Drive, both of which occurred during Spring Break, the agency said Miami Herald.

A social media post reported that four Miami Beach police officers were also injured.

A Video Posted by the Miami Beach Fraternal Order of Police showed hundreds of spring breakers running around in golf carts and boxing.

“The officers are EXHAUSTED. The party has to end. City officials must act immediately and decisively to ensure the safety of officials and local residents,” the post said.

Over the weekend, police found two people shot dead near Ocean Drive and Eighth Street, and a third victim appeared at the hospital alone.

Two other people were later injured when gunfire erupted near Seventh Street and Ocean Drive.

The curfew was announced by City Manager Alina Hudak at a press conference.

The curfew will apply throughout South Beach, beginning at 23rd Street, beginning just after midnight Thursday and ending at 6 a.m. Monday.

After midnight, only city residents or visitors with hotel reservations or business in the area can enter via Fifth Street, which is patrolled by a traffic blockade Florida Ministry of Transport.

Hudak can only issue emergency orders for a 72-hour period, so she plans to ask the city commission to extend the curfew for the following weekend, the Herald reported.

Police will roam the curfew to enforce the restriction.

As a precaution, a city-organized concert scheduled for Saturday is being postponed amid concerns of overcrowding and possible further violence.

“There are cowards with guns out there,” Hudak said, according to the Herald.

These curfews are not new to the city.

In 2021, city officials imposed an 8 p.m. curfew and closed major highways to traffic into the city.

There have been a few shootings in the area so far in 2022, but no one has died and there have been no life-threatening injuries, the Herald reported.

While arrests are down from last year, Police Chief Richard Clements said 100 guns have been seized in the past four weeks.

Business owners from the area told the Herald Spring Break had improved but a “rough crowd” came through the city over the weekend.

A city campaign encouraged spring breakers to “come on vacation, don’t try.”

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