Florida, United States

Miami Police arrested a Florida man who is accused of shooting his cousin following a confrontation over a parking space.

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The 51-year-old shot his cousin four times and was arrested on the charges of attempted felony murder and causing injury with a firearm, grand theft of a firearm, and discharging a firearm in an outdoor or residential area, according to the police report.

As per the report, the police received a distress call that a man had been shot on July 27. When the police arrived at the location, they found a man with gunshot wounds. The accused surrendered himself and told the police that he was the one who fired at his cousin. 

According to the report, the two men got into a dispute over parking space before the shooting. Following a conversation in Spanish, the victim was shot, with one bullet grazing his wrist and three hitting his left thigh, according to the police report.

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The victim claimed he ran into a bedroom, locked the door, and that his cousin threatened to kill him. Police noted that the two men had been living together at the address for a year.

A records check showed the gun used was reported stolen on September 19, 2021, from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, the police stated.

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Gun violence: A public health crisis in US

Gun violence remains a serious problem in the United States and was recently labelled a public health crisis by US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. In a new advisory released on Tuesday, he noted that gun violence has been the leading cause of death for Americans aged 1 to 19 since 2020, surpassing vehicle accidents, poisoning (including drug-related incidents), and cancer.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that Florida saw 3,232 firearm deaths in 2022, the latest year for which data is available, giving it a death rate of 14, the same as Wisconsin. The lowest rates of gun deaths were in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, at 3.1 and 3.7 respectively. In contrast, New Mexico (27.3), Louisiana (28.2), and Mississippi (29.6) had the highest rates of gun-related fatalities.

(With inputs from agencies)