Miami-Dade declares site of mass shooting an ‘unsafe structure,’ cuts off electricity
Miami-Dade County officials shut off electricity Friday at El Mula Banquet Hall, the site of a mass shooting last Sunday that killed three people and injured 20 others.
Officials declared the building in Northwest Miami-Dade an “unsafe structure” after an inspection Thursday, finding evidence of electrical work that was done without permits and violations of the facility’s certificate of use to operate as a “simple banquet hall.”
The power will remain shut off until further notice, said Tere Florin, a spokeswoman for the county’s Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources.
Florin said the violations were not directly related to the shooting or the rap concert that took place at the venue before three gunmen ambushed a crowd outside.
“We don’t believe there’s any relationship between the shooting itself and the work that we’re doing,” Florin said.
But the inspection was prompted by the shooting, with Miami-Dade police asking county code compliance officials to inspect the site.
Inspectors said they found exposed electrical wiring, as well as electrical outlets, plumbing materials and a partition wall that had been installed without a permit.
Florin also said the business was operating an oven and fryers, a likely violation of its certificate of use as a simple banquet hall. She said county officials are still “parsing out” the details of those allegations.
Joseph Medlin, who is listed as the owner of El Mula, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday evening. The business is located in a shopping center in an unincorporated area of the county.
County, state and federal agencies were inspecting the property as part of a multi-agency effort Thursday, Florin said, including the state’s Department of Health and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It wasn’t immediately clear what the other agencies found.
Two men, Desmond Owens and Clayton Dillard III, both 26, died in the shooting Sunday morning. A woman, Shankquia Lechelle Peterson, 32, died Thursday.
Miami-Dade police are still trying to identify the men who opened fire on the business at 7630 NW 186th St. early Sunday morning. Surveillance video shows the crowd scattering in panic as people crumpled to the ground wounded, with puffs of dust exploding in the air from bullets hitting the walls outside the venue.
