As Miami Beach struggles to control spring break, still few answers on weekend shootings

Two deadly shootings, motives unclear. Hundreds of arrests. Dozens of guns confiscated. Emergency city commission meetings.

It’s spring break in Miami Beach and once again city leaders and the police force are struggling for ways to control crowds and the kind of publicity that no tourist-driven community wants.

“We can’t allow our streets to be dangerous in this way,” said Mayor Dan Gelber at a Monday meeting called after a weekend that saw two men killed in shootings — both caught on videos that went viral on social media — that remained largely unexplained days later.

As of Tuesday, the police department had released the name of one shooting suspect — a 24-year-old ex-con from Fort Lauderdale named Dontavious Leonard Polk — but had not named victims and offered only sketchy information on both cases.

The department also reported that, as of Sunday night, there had been 332 arrests and that 71 guns had been confiscated, though it had not yet responded to a public records request from the Miami Herald for more details. That mirrored spring break last year. After the same weekend in 2022, police had confiscated 70 guns and reported a similar number of arrests.

Read More: Here’s what spring break in South Beach looked like Sunday ahead of a midnight curfew

So far at least, things do seem quieter then 2021, when spring breakers who had been cooped up during the pandemic tossed water bottles and other projectiles at police, who responded with rough arrests and, sometimes, pepper balls fired into crowds. By the time the holiday had ended, more than 1,000 people had been arrested.

Better than two years ago isn’t enough for many residents, but a split city commission, at least for the time being, put off extending a midnight curfew imposed on Sunday for the coming weekend. But that option does not seem off the table

“We have a situation where we can’t control the violence in our streets,” Commissioner Steven Meiner said Monday. “There are too many guns.”

Police flooded the entertainment district

This year, Miami Beach Police thought they were well prepared for the massive crowds. The city’s Entertainment District — mostly along Ocean Drive and Washington Avenue, from Fifth to 15th streets — was flooded with hundreds of officers from the Beach and neighboring agencies when gunfire first rang out late Friday night and then again early Sunday morning.

Because police were so close, they were able to respond to both shootings rapidly. In both instances, police said, everyone believed to have fired a weapon was quickly taken into custody. During the first shooting, police also tried to revive the victim using CPR.

But, as of Tuesday morning there had only been one arrest. That’s because, according to multiple law enforcement sources, investigators are grappling with a Stand Your Ground self-defense claim by one shooter in the Friday night incident. It’s proven an effective tool in averting charges or justifying shootings with juries in court.

Citing an open investigation, police would only say the first deadly shooting happened at about 10:40 p.m., near Ocean Drive and Seventh Street, leaving one man dead and another treated for injuries at the scene. Video taken from a cellphone camera in a hotel room that circulated on social media shows a crowd dispersing in all directions after the gunfire.

The second fatal shooting happened at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday morning on Ocean Drive between 10th and 11th Streets. Surveillance video near the popular Palace Bar and obtained by the Miami Herald shows three men walking north along the sidewalk, then one of them grabbing a gun from his waistband and firing it several times at a man standing with his arm around a woman.

Read More: See what the South Beach spring break scene looked like one night after a deadly shooting

Police say suspect Dontavious Leonard Polk took off and was less than a block away when a chasing Miami-Dade officer saw him toss a Glock with an extended magazine. Polk, tackled by other officers, was charged with first-degree murder and denied bond. The victim’s name has not been released, police said, because family has not yet been notified. They’ve offered no explanation of what led to the shooting and don’t believe the incidents were related.

State records show Polk was sentenced to four years in prison after convictions for a carjacking incident with a deadly weapon in 2017. He was also convicted of robbery, battery on someone over 65 and fleeing from police. He was released from prison, records show, in February 2021.

Too many people?

Fraternal Order of Police President Robert Hernandez believes the problem boils down to a single issue: There are just many people pouring onto the Beach, a small barrier island of 15 square miles connected to the mainland through only four bridges. Police had placed 24 license plate readers at intersections around the city, a tactic intended to identify potential problem visitors.

But Hernandez said that wasn’t enough He said if the city copied the formula it now uses and that has proven effective during Memorial Day weekend, it would dramatically cut back on the crowds and make it safer for the public and police. He suggested suspending public parking during the busiest three weekends and limiting traffic coming into the Beach down to a single lane.

“It would slow the traffic, which would make the size of the crowd more reasonable,” Hernandez said. “There are just too many people and a lack of crowd management. If you can reduce the crowd size, then you can manage the crowd.”

During Monday’s meeting, Miami Beach City Manager Alina Hudak called the situation “heartbreaking” and pointed the finger at some of the visitors flooding the city.

“The crowds that came here this weekend were intent on causing chaos,” she said.

Miami Herald Staff Writer Aaron Leibowitz contributed to this report.