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Florida Atlantic University's first student-run news source.

UNIVERSITY PRESS

Florida Atlantic University's first student-run news source.

UNIVERSITY PRESS

4th Avenue shooting: witness report

Police+on+the+scene+after+three+people+were+shot+in+an+apartment+complex+close+to+campus.+The+shooter+remains+at+large+as+of+press+time.+Photo+by+Charles+Pratt.
Char Pratt
Police on the scene after three people were shot in an apartment complex close to campus. The shooter remains at large as of press time. Photo by Charles Pratt.
Police on the scene after three people were shot in an apartment complex close to campus. The shooter remains at large as of press time. Photo by Charles Pratt.
He heard gun shots 50 feet away and only one thing came to mind.
“‘Oh shit’,” the sophomore communications major recalled thinking. “My immediate thought was ‘Don’t get hit’.”
The witness — who asked to remain anonymous — was at the Bicycle Club apartments waiting for a ride back to campus on Sunday night, Oct. 30, when the 4th Avenue shooting started across the street. It resulted in three hospitalizations and a shooter, still at large, according to Boca Police.
But the sophomore didn’t know any of this at 8:19 p.m. when his ride sent him a text message telling him to come outside. He was waiting in the dark under “drizzling rain” when he heard someone yell “an urgent ‘Yo!’”
“It was the kind of ‘yo’ that someone uses to get someone’s attention,” he said.
He immediately looked around and saw a car drive off, but thought nothing of it.
Moments later, he heard more than ten gun shots go off at what he estimated was 50 feet away. He was too distracted to keep a specific count.
He ducked behind the nearest trees for cover, crouching for a few seconds before his friend picked him up and they drove off. That’s when he saw a “newer” red Mustang drive toward campus but turn into another apartment complex, “either looking for someone or trying to get away.”
And then it was all over — four minutes after the first call.
At 8:23 p.m., his friend from Bicycle Club called to check if he was okay.
The sophomore said he had been in “similar situations,” which is why he was only scared until he got in the car. “That’s when I felt protected and was like, ‘I can get out of here.’”
He didn’t call the cops, or his mom, or anyone – he didn’t want to get anyone concerned or involved, including himself.
“I just wanted to mind my business and get out of there,” he said.
He said that once he heard someone yell “yo”, he knew the act was not premeditated, which makes him believe that it was a “drug deal gone wrong.”
The witness was surprised that the shooters have remained unidentified by the police. “Not only were people there, but it happened in a complex,” he said. “Someone knows something.”
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  • C

    Casa Del Rio ResidentOct 31, 2011 at 10:27 pm

    Casa Del Rio is *not* the apartment complex in question. The title of this article is wrong. The apartments in that location are called the “Versailles Villa” according to their unlit sign.

    No doubt the author of this article is confused because Casa Del Rio is a large set of apartments whose prominent, lit sign on 20th Street make it appear as if all of the apartments on that corner are part of Casa Del Rio, but they’re not.

    Reply