One Dead in El Portal Shooting

One person is dead after gunshots rang out in El Portal Monday. The man died near a foot bridge that connects the area with another neighborhood.

“I was sitting on my patio and I heard six gunshots go off,” said Steve Johnson. “One right after another, I counted all the way to six."

Police said the victim, 19-year-old Lorenzo Mosie, made it to the foot bridge, but it was locked. El Portal Police lock the foot bridge between 4:30 and 5 p.m. and reopen it in the morning for kids walking to school.

The other neighborhood connected by the foot bridge is a rougher section of Miami. The goal behind locking the gate is, neighbors say, to keep the gun violence on the other side of the canal.

"You hear gunshots more randomly over there," said Thomas Murend. "That’s why no one paid attention when they heard it."

One resident, who asked to only be identified as “Toya,” said she’s lived near the foot bridge for 25 years and Monday saw a group of teens in the area just before the shots were fired.

“They walked towards the bridge, but the bridge was already locked,” Toya said. “It’s a little nerve-wracking that you can be living right here and someone can get shot right there. I have kids running around, you know. So it sucks."