MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Multiple people were shot during what was advertised as a “Jet Ski party” in northwest Miami-Dade Sunday night, and one victim has since died from their injuries, authorities confirmed.
“It’s a Jet Ski party, we have this every Sunday, and then that’s when a fight broke out and then one thing led to another and then shots were fired, multiple people got shot,” one witness said.
The incident happened at a home on South River Drive. The home is registered to a religious organization run by Maurice Symonette, also known as Michael the Black Man.
On Monday, Local 10 News asked Symonette about the shooting. He defended the events at the home, saying there were lots of parties over the holiday weekend and this could have happened anywhere in his neighborhood.
“It’s Easter,” he said. “All these people had a whole bunch of people at their house. It could’ve happened in anybody’s yard.”
But we have learned that this is not the first time the homeowner has had problems at the address. Symonette was arrested in August of 2021 for violating the city’s loud noise ordinance.
Symonette said he heard the shooting was the result of an altercation over a cellphone, but said he actually wasn’t at the party himself.
“The bottom line is, I wasn’t there and I didn’t tell them they could come in my yard. That’s what the problem is,” he said.
However, a flier circulating advertised the party at Boss Mansion at the address on Easter Sunday.
WATCH: Maurice Symonette speaks about fatal shooting that occurred on his property
Officers said they arrived at the scene to find four victims.
According to Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta, a fight broke out between a 22-year-old man and a 24-year-old man.
He said as the two were fighting, a third person pulled out a gun and shot the 22-year-old in the chest and the 24-year-old in the buttocks.
As the shooting was happening, a 36-year-old mother was arriving to pick up her 14-year-old son. The mother and son were both grazed by a bullet, Zabaleta said.
The two men and the teen were rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where the 22-year-old man died.
The other victims are in stable condition, according to Miami-Dade police.
Witnesses told a Local 10 News crew on scene more about what went happened at the party before the shots were fired.
“Well, at that time, a lot of people was already leaving,” one man said. “But my thing is that whatever happened when people was leaving in their cars and Jet Skis, the one that was staying behind at the party was the ones that are young and stupid. I think, you know, one party provoked the other one and got a guy and just shot the other one, I guess.”
Neighbors told Local 10 News that the so-called Jet Ski parties have long been a problem.
Cellphone video shows the back of the home where the parties are said to take place. Neighbors say loud parties, minors and weapons are a common sight.
They say they’ve tried contacting police and code enforcement, but the parties keep happening.
Public posts on social media for the home refer to it as the “Boss Mansion.” The home-turned party venue has nearly 11,000 followers on Instagram.
It’s unclear if any suspects are in custody.
The investigation is ongoing.