Dan Gelber, the mayor of Miami Beach, Florida, has declared a curfew for the city following two fatal shootings this past weekend on Ocean Drive and an uptick in out-of-town visitors.
The city is one of the most popular spring break destinations for college students, but recent occurrences have prompted its mayor to take action.
The first shooting occurred on Friday night around 10:40 p.m. One person died and another was sent to the hospital in critical condition, per The Hill.
The most recent shooting occurred on Sunday morning around 3:30 a.m. A man was shot and later died at the hospital. Another man was hurt in the incident but was treated and later released on site, per a Miami Beach Police Department post on Twitter.
Both shootings stemmed from altercations between out-of-town visitors to Miami Beach and did not involve residents, according to Mayor Gelber. Miami Beach police tweeted to confirm that the crime was “targeted and isolated.”
“In both cases, police were literally seconds away from the incidents and arrests were made within minutes. That said, it is clear that even an unprecedented police presence could not prevent these incidents from occurring,” said Gelber, per The Miami Herald.
The curfew was implemented to control the “excessively huge and disorderly crowds” that had assembled during spring break in the city, as well as to “mitigate dangerous and illegal conduct,” per a press release from Miami Beach police. It was in place from 11:59 p.m. on Sunday to 6 a.m. on Monday.
The city manager is also planning to impose a curfew from Thursday, March 25, through Monday, March 27.
Mayor Gelber expressed his disapproval of spring break in Miami Beach, saying, “We don’t ask for spring break in our city. We don’t want spring break in our city. It’s too rowdy, brings too much disorder and it’s simply too difficult to police,” per The Miami Herald.
Hotels are permitted to stay open during the curfew, but they are only able to do so if people are staying there. Companies must shut down by midnight, and those going to and from work, or city residents going to and from their houses, would not be subject to the curfew.
“While our daytime programming has helped with crowd control and daytime incidents and arrests are down from last year, the volume of people in our city, the unruly nature of too many and the presence of guns, has created a peril that cannot go unchecked,” said Gelber, per Fox 59 News.
While Miami Beach suffers a bump in violent crime this spring break season, Dallas continues to endure a violent crime spike through the first months of 2023. Year-to-date, murder has skyrocketed, jumping by 34.8% as of Saturday. Aggravated assaults have also increased compared to last year, spiking by 9.1%, according to a report by the Dallas Police Department.