Shooting at Upscale Florida Mall Leaves 1 Dead, 2 Injured
Shooting at Upscale Florida Mall Leaves 1 Dead, 2 Injured
Gunfire erupted during a dispute between a former gym employee and a manager, leaving one person dead and two others seriously wounded at an upscale shopping mall, police said.

Coral Gables: Gunfire erupted during a dispute between a former gym employee and a manager, leaving one person dead and two others seriously wounded at an upscale shopping mall, police said.

The shooting at the Equinox gym on Saturday shuttered the Shops at Merrick Park for the day while investigators talked to witnesses and pieced together what happened. Police did not say who opened fire, or who was wounded and who was killed.

The wounded were airlifted to the Ryder Trauma Center.

There was no immediate word on their conditions.

"It appears to be an ex-employee, managerial dispute that triggered this shooting," Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta said.

The mall is within a couple miles of the University of Miami campus. Former Miami baseball standout Javy Rodriguez said he was inside the gym when the shots started, writing on Facebook that he ran to safety.

"Equinox workers did an amazing job of calmly ... getting the rest out of there," Rodriguez said.

Equinox's corporate offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A Coral Gables police officer patrolling the mall was told by a security officer shortly before 1 pm that shots had been fired, said Coral Gables Chief of Police Ed Hudak.

"The system worked exactly as it should have," Hudak said.

At Yard House, a restaurant inside the mall, many patrons were outside dining or waiting for their lunches when police told restaurant employees to get everyone inside.

"So that's exactly what we did," said Tim Hartog, the restaurant's general manager. "It was never chaotic. We're trained to do these things."

Hartog said employees were allowed to clean and shut down the restaurant for the day and were told to go home afterwards. He said the mall was closed until Sunday.

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