Jonathan Oddi, 42, was shot and wounded by police in the early morning of May 18 after he opened fire and shouted about President Trump in the hotel lobby of the Doral, Fla., property. Oddi has been taken into custody and a police officer has been injured but is expected to recover.
An armed man was shot and wounded after he shouted about President Trump and opened fire at the Trump National Doral (Fla.) Miami on May 18, The New York Times reported.
The authorities did not immediately describe a motive for the attack at about 1:30 a.m. in the marble-floored lobby of the club’s hotel, which is owned by the Trump Organization. They identified the suspect as Jonathan Oddi, 42, and said they believed he had acted alone, the Times reported.
“What officers did today was nothing short of heroic,” Juan J. Perez, the director of the Miami-Dade Police Department, said at an early morning news conference outside the club. “They did not hesitate one second to engage an individual who was actively shooting in the lobby of the hotel.
“He was yelling and spewing some information about President Trump, and he had an American flag that he did drape over the counter,” Perez said. At a later news conference, Perez said Oddi had yelled “anti-Trump, President Trump rhetoric.”
Federal law enforcement officials, including the Secret Service, responded to the episode, but Perez said the motive of Oddi, who was shot multiple times and taken into custody, was not yet fully clear. “Not saying terrorism; not discounting anything at this point,” Perez said.
The Doral police said there was “no further threat” at the club, the Times reported.
In addition to Oddi, who was taken to a hospital, the police reported that one officer had been injured. The police said the officer had broken bones and was expected to recover, the Times reported.
After sunrise on Friday morning, police cruisers and uniformed officers blocked the entrance to the club, a long driveway lined with palm trees and manicured landscaping. Several hotel guests huddled down the driveway, waiting for their rides since drivers were not being let into the property. Some had their carry-on luggage in hand and were en route to the airport, the Times reported.
A group of guests from Argentina, in town for a conference at nearby Florida International University, said guest rooms at the hotel are away from the central building that houses the lobby and restaurant, so they were far away from the shooting, the Times reported.
The Trump Organization bought the golf resort, formerly known as the Doral Resort and Spa, in 2012. The club, one of 11 hotels the Trump Organization lists in its worldwide portfolio, has four golf courses, including its crown jewel, the Blue Monster at Doral. Properties tied to Trump have been popular locations for protests against his presidency, and some demonstrations have led to arrests. Last May, the authorities in Washington said they arrested a man after finding both a rifle and a handgun in his vehicle at the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, the Times reported.
Gordon Olsen, a hotel guest in town on business from New Jersey, said he found out what had happened at the Doral property when he received a text message from someone checking on his well-being, the Times reported.
He planned to remain a guest at the hotel. “They have him in custody,” he said of the gunman. “I’m wondering if maybe you can’t stay at Trump properties anymore.”
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