Man Killed In Shootout With Hialeah Police
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HIALEAH (CBSMiami) - A shootout in Hialeah put a shopping center on lockdown as police killed one man on Monday afternoon.
"We responded to a 911 call of a suspicious person out here in the parking lot and we found the vehicle and the man. Shortly after our encounter with this man he was shot upon and killed on the scene," Carl Zogby of the Hialeah Police Department.
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The shooting took place at Westland Commons located on West 49th St. and West 16th Ave. at around 12:45 p.m.
"I thought somebody was shooting fireworks. It went pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop!" said shopper Willie Clarke.
He soon realized it was more than that, "I heard the rapid gunfire, automatic weapons and then two single shots right after that."
Even though Clarke and the other shoppers were startled, he said they maintained a level of calm as police ushered them toward the back of the stores.
"They (police) told us to go to the back of the store. We didn't know what was happening," one of the shoppers in Spanish.
"The entire shopping center was closed off by police as they gathered evidence and talked to shoppers to figure out who may be a potential witness," shopper Josefina Mayor said in Spanish.
Police have not released the identity of the man killed, nor have police said why the shots were fired.
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