Florida resort shooting: Police captures shooter

Washington D.C. [USA], May 18 (ANI): The police in South Florida have shot and captured a man, who opened fire in the hotel lobby of Trump National Doral Miami resort early on Friday.

The man, Jonathan Oddi (42), started firing indiscriminately at the resort in order to lure officers there so he could ambush them.

Juan J. Perez, director of Miami-Dade police, said during the exchange of fire, Oddi was ultimately shot in the legs by the police officers and was taken into a nearby hospital and is in a stable condition, The Washington Post reported.

"It appears he was trying to engage our police officers [in] some type of ambush-type of attack, trying to lure our police officers . into this gunfight. He did succeed, and he did lose, and that's the bottom line," Perez added.

"If not for the heroic efforts of the police officers that responded here today, this individual would have caused a lot of harm, and he was not able to do that," he further said.

The shooter entered the resort early on Friday and was behaving bizarrely. He took down an American flag from the rear part of the complex and draped it on a counter in the hotel lobby and started yelling "anti-Trump rhetoric."

After this, he opened fire in the lobby, prompting the resort staff to call the police. He then was engaged in an exchange of fire before being shot in his legs.

"He (Oddi) waited for our police officers in the front lobby to engage them. Five officers - one from the Miami-Dade department, four from Doral - exchanged fire with him, Perez said.

Meanwhile, Doral Police Chief Hernan Organvidez said the people in the resort were not evacuated as the shootout lasted for "less than two minutes."

Eric Trump, one of the US President Donald Trump's sons who manages the company, tweeted a message of thanks to the police officers who responded to the shooting.

A huge thank you to the incredible men and women of the @DoralPolice Department and @MiamiDadePD. Every day they keep our community safe. We are very grateful to you!" he wrote on Twitter.

The luxury hotel is part of Trump National Doral Golf Club, an 800-acre resort owned by Trump outside Miami city. The US President had purchased the golf course for USD 150 million (approx. Rs. 15 crores) in 2012. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI