2013 Hialeah shooting
mass shooting in Hialeah, Florida
On July 26, 2013, a mass shooting occurred at the Todel Apartments, an apartment complex in Hialeah, a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. Seven people, including the shooter, were killed in the incident. The shooter was identified by police as 42-year-old Pedro Alberto Vargas, a resident of Hialeah, who, after setting his apartment ablaze, opened fire from his balcony and inside the apartment, then held two people hostage before being fatally shot by a SWAT team in the early hours of July 27.
Events
Prior to the shooting
At 1:37 p.m., hours before the shooting started, Vargas called 9-1-1 and reported he was being followed, asking the dispatcher to run the license plate of a vehicle parked outside his apartment. He also claimed he was being threatened by people using witchcraft on him. His mother, 83-year-old Esperanza Patterson, then took the phone and told the dispatcher about her son's strange behavior. The dispatcher informed Patterson that police units have been sent to her residence, but Patterson advised against it, and later informed the dispatcher that Vargas had left, having gone to the office of a lawyer he hired for a recent legal matter.
Shooting
According to officials, Vargas poured combustible liquid on $10,000 in cash and set it on fire in his apartment unit at around 6:30 p.m. The Todel Apartments' manager, 79-year-old Italo Pisciotti, and his 69-year-old wife Samira noticed the smoke and ran to the apartment. Vargas stepped into the hallway and opened fire with a Glock 17 9mm semiautomatic pistol, killing both.
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