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2 Dead After Shooting In Miami

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The Associated Press

Published: January 24, 2009

MIAMI - An assault rifle was used in a Friday night shooting in northwest Miami, killing two people and injuring seven, police said today.

"We have someone out there that is armed, it is a dangerous situation," police spokeswoman Kenia Alfonso said.

Two male teenagers, ages 16 and 18, were slain in the shooting and police still have no motive, Alfonso said. Authorities have not yet released the shooting victims' identities, only saying none of the victims were children.

One person remained in critical but stable condition this afternoon after undergoing surgery. Four people were listed in stable condition and two others were released from a hospital, Alfonso said.

Authorities said the group was playing a dice game outside a store in the Liberty City neighborhood when the shooting started.

When paramedics arrived, many of those who had been shot were lying in the street. Lt. Ignatius Carroll with Miami Fire Rescue said the scene was chaotic.

Dozens of police cruisers swarmed the area and blocked off streets after the shooting.

Liberty City's name comes from a housing project built in the 1930s for poor African-Americans and is known around Florida for its crime and grinding poverty. The median household income hovers around $18,000 a year, some $30,000 less than the U.S. average.

The neighborhood is also known for riots.

In 1979, a black insurance agent was beaten to death by white and Hispanic police officers. An all-white jury acquitted them and a three-day riot left 18 dead, countless injured and 850 arrested.

Many of the neighborhood's businesses were destroyed, then rebuilt.

Then in 1989, police killed another black motorist, and rioters spewed into the streets just days before the Super Bowl was held in Miami.

The area has never fully recovered. Boarded-up buildings, drug dealers and, recently, foreclosures have mushroomed. Racial tension among blacks, whites, Hispanics and even newer black Caribbean arrivals have simmered for years.

Police are asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at: 305-471-TIPS (8477).

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