Seven people were killed in a Florida apartment building last weekend when one tenant went on a shooting rampage, killing six before being taken down himself by a SWAT team.
Two unharmed hostages were also rescued by the SWAT team, Miami police said.
The shootout began on the evening of Friday 26 July when the gunman, identified as Pedro Vargas, 42, set fire to the apartment he shared with his mother.
Police spokesman Carl Zogby described how the building’s elderly managers, Italo and Camira Pisciotti, rushed to the apartment went they saw smoke pouring out of it.
“He came out of the door and shot both of them several times, killing them right at the scene,” he said.
Vargas then went back inside his apartment, walked out on the balcony and fired between 10 and 20 shots into the street, Zogby said, killing a man who lived across the street as he walked home. Vargas also shot at the emergency services, preventing them from giving immediate aid to the victims, police said.
The gunman then went to a third-floor apartment, kicked down the door and shot dead a couple and their teenage daughter, Zogby said.
Vargas then ran through the building, firing erratically and exchanging gunfire with police as they arrived and tried to engage him. He ran to the fifth floor, where he took two people hostage and barricaded himself inside their apartment, police said.
Negotiators made arrived during the night but the talks broke down and a SWAT team entered at about 2 a.m., police said. Vargas was still firing and “ready to fight” when police took him out, Zogby said.
“All this while, officers are trying to save the hostages, grab them, pull them out of the apartment while this gun battle was going on,” he said.
Police are still trying to uncover the motive behind the attack, saying that it may have been “an irrational act and many times there is no rational explanation.” Neighbours say that the gunman may have been facing eviction.
