Graduation party shooting kills 3 people
MIAMI -- Three people are dead and at least five others injured after a shooting at a Florida graduation party, the latest in a string of such violence in the Miami area, police said Sunday.
One of those killed was a state corrections officer, Miami-Dade police Director Alfredo "Freddy" Ramirez told news outlets. He said the party at a strip mall lounge was ending when one or more vehicles "pulled up and began to fire into the crowd."
The identities of all of those killed and wounded were not immediately released Sunday. The shooting happened about 2 a.m. in the suburb of Kendall.
State corrections officials identified the officer who died as Tyleisha Taylor, 20, who had worked at Dade Correctional Institution since January 2020.
Florida Secretary of Corrections Mark Inch said in a statement that "we are devastated to learn a member of our FDC family, Officer Taylor, was killed in a fatal shooting. Our prayers are with her family as they navigate this unimaginable loss."
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said she was "horrified" by this latest shooting.
"We will not allow a small group of violent actors to terrorize our community, and violent offenders will face the full weight of the law," she said in a statement Sunday.
"I'm fully committed to making sure Miami-Dade Police Department has all the resources they need to end this cycle of gun violence and prevent more tragedy by getting violent criminals off the street," she added.
Two of those who died were in one of the cars police believe was involved in the shooting. The vehicle sped off and crashed into a nearby wall. Authorities found at least one gun in the car, but its exact connection to the shooting was unclear.
Quake 'swarm' hits Southern California
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Hundreds of earthquakes reaching up to 5.3 magnitude rattled the Salton Sea in California on Saturday and Sunday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The quakes ranged from under 2.5 to 5.3 magnitude, according to the USGS. More than a dozen have struck since midnight Saturday.
The 5.3 magnitude quake hit 3 miles deep at 10:55 a.m. Pacific time Saturday, according to the USGS. Scores of people, some as far away as San Francisco and Arizona, reported feeling the tremor.
It followed several quakes in the 4.0 range in the previous 10 minutes. Dozens of tremors followed the larger quake.
"Today's swarm is not close enough to the San Andreas fault to raise concern," seismologist Lucy Jones wrote on Twitter.
Jones also wrote on Twitter that swarms of quakes are common in the Imperial Valley and said these quakes appeared to be petering out.
Quakes between 2.5 and 5.4 magnitude are often felt but rarely cause much damage, according to the USGS.
The Salton Sea in Southern California near the Arizona border is one of the world's largest inland seas and one of the lowest spots on Earth at 277 feet below sea level.
Gunfire injures 8 people in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS -- Eight people in New Orleans were wounded by gunfire, including one woman who was shot in the face, police said Sunday.
New Orleans police said the shootings happened early Sunday, shortly after midnight, along a service road near Interstate 10.
Paramedics took a woman to a hospital in critical condition after she was shot in the face, according to a police news release. New Orleans police spokesman Aaron Looney told WWL-TV the seven other victims were all in stable condition. Police said some victims were merely grazed by gunfire.
Looney declined to release further details of what happened, citing the ongoing police investigation. Police have not announced any arrests.
The road where the shooting happened was described by news outlets as an area dotted with abandoned businesses and large parking lots.
Person arrested after shots near campus
AZUSA, Calif. -- A person has been taken into custody after authorities investigated gunfire near a Christian university campus in Southern California on Sunday, officials said.
Azusa Pacific University said there was "active gun shot activity" around 1:20 p.m. near the campus, which is located in the San Gabriel Valley northeast of Los Angeles.
The campus' public safety officials said on Twitter that the situation had been "stabilized" around 3 p.m. and the suspect had been taken into custody by Azusa police. Lockdown orders have been lifted.
The university had sent an alert telling people on the campus to shelter in place and stay indoors.
The university's main campus in the city of Azusa typically serves more than 9,000 students. It was not immediately known how many students and staff were on the campus Sunday.
The university's alert said there was a large police presence responding to the emergency, which was described as on or near the campus.
Azusa police and a spokesperson for the university did not immediately return requests for comment.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports