Fight escalates to gunfire barrage outside Key West bar, police say. Man jailed
A man is behind bars after a fight escalated to a barrage of gunfire near Key West's most famous tourist area early Sunday morning, police say.
Shortly before 4 a.m., Key West police responded to the area just outside Tattoo and Scars Saloon, 512 Greene Street, where they found two men with gunshot wounds, according to a warrant obtained by the Miami Herald. A witness had called 911, saying she heard six gunshots and saw a large group of people fighting in front of the bar.
Alijah Alihikaua Helmar, a 25-year-old Key West resident, is jailed in connection to the shooting, records show. Witnesses, according to police, directed officers to the suspected gunman. The shooting occurred near Duval Street, an area renowned for its nightlife, restaurants and shopping.
Helmar, the warrant says, was captured on surveillance footage shooting a pistol during the argument. It's unclear what charges Helmar faces, though the warrant lists the offense as aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
In an interview with police, Helmar denied being drunk and claimed he had only one drink, according to the warrant. Officers, however, noticed a strong odor of alcohol on Helmar's person — and also found a Glock 10mm pistol tucked into his waistband.
In 2022, Helmar was previously convicted of disorderly conduct for brawling, a misdemeanor, court records indicate.
One of the victims, a 25-year-old man was shot four times, once in the face, twice in the abdomen and once in the thigh, the warrant says. He was airlifted to Jackson South. The other victim, a 33-year-old man, was struck by a bullet in the ankle.
Their identities and conditions weren't released publicly as of Sunday morning. Detectives are investigating the shooting.
This information will be updated as more information becomes available
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Miami Herald
Outraged Broward sheriff lashes out at state attorney for arresting 3 deputies
Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony blasted the State Attorney's Office for arresting three corrections deputies who are accused of battering a woman they booked into jail almost three years ago. Tony said the deputies never should have been arrested, that the woman they're accused of beating attacked and injured them and he is reinstating them. 'So, we're moving forward from an internal-affairs standpoint. Our investigation has been completed. All three deputies will be reinstated to full capacity, and they've been either exonerated of these false allegations or it's been unfounded,' he said at a press briefing Friday morning. The State Attorney's Office arrested Sgt. Zakiyya Polk, Deputy Cleopatra Johnnie and Deputy Denia Walker last week on aggravated battery charges stemming from an Oct. 4, 2022, incident involving a woman being booked into jail on a charge of driving under the influence. Each faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the second-degree felony charge. Eric Schwartzreich, Polk's attorney, said she and the other 'detention deputies have not committed any crimes, or any policy violations.' 'As a criminal defense attorney that represents those that find themselves thrust into the criminal justice system, which at times includes deputies, this is the first time that the Sheriff and I have stood in solidarity and both of us agree that these deputies should not be charged with any crimes,' Schwartzreich said in an email to the Miami Herald. 'This is an important case for all of law enforcement. I applaud the Sheriff on his response and for standing up for the men and women who keep us safe.' According to the deputies' arrest warrant, the woman, 38-year-old Samantha Caputo, became argumentative when the deputies told her to remove her bra as she was changing from her personal clothes to her jail uniform. Polk pushed Caputo, and then Johnnie and Walker punched and kicked her several times, the warrant states. Walker and Polk also pepper-sprayed Caputo, and Polk shot prongs into her with her Taser stun gun, according to the warrant. After the struggle, Caputo had a hematoma under her right eye, bruises and a scar from the Taser prongs, the warrant states. The jail nurse treated her for her injuries, and she was hospitalized days later because the Taser wound became infected, according to the warrant. Tony stressed that security-camera footage shows the deputies used an appropriate amount of force in controlling Caputo. He said Caputo 'struck, scratched and bit' one of the deputies, puncturing the skin and fracturing her finger. 'The video is crystal clear that [the deputies] had demonstrated only the level of force necessary to get this individual back into compliance,' Tony said. 'Our standard is reasonable, necessary force in proportion to the threat to that which we face.' Tony struck out at Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor's office for pursuing charges against the deputies yet declining to charge in many cases against deputies and other public employees whom the sheriff's office recommends for prosecution. Referring to Polk, Johnnie and Walker as 'the select three,' Tony questioned why Pryor's office pursued them while ignoring other public-corruption leads from the sheriff's office. 'This is most certainly a miscarriage of justice and exhibits symptoms of public corruption in itself,' Tony said. Tony said that in his two terms he has taken deputy misconduct so seriously that he has fired 141 of them. He said he holds his deputies to strict standards when they use force. Pryor responded in a statement that it took almost three years to charge the deputies because prosecutors didn't begin looking at the case until Caputo's attorneys filed a motion to dismiss a charge of battery on a law-enforcement officer. Public Corruption Unit prosecutors then viewed the security-camera footage and decided to charge the deputies, Pryor said. They also dropped the battery charge against Caputo, according to court documents. 'All individuals charged with a crime are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty. At no time were the detention deputies placed in front of the national media in handcuffs, they were allowed to surrender to the jail at a time that was arranged with their defense attorneys in advance, and they were released from the jail on agreed bonds of $7,500 without going through magistrate court,' Pryor said. Tony said he was outraged the charge against Caputo was dropped. 'You don't get a free pass to strike, injure or harm any of my God damn deputies in this agency,' he said. 'None of them!' Johnnie's attorney did not immediately respond to a Herald request for comments. Information about Walker's legal representation was not immediately available. All three deputies were released from jail on May 29, the same day they were arrested. Tony brought up the case of former Broward Sheriff's Office Deputy Ronald Thurston and other examples of what he said were mishandled cases by Pryor's office. READ MORE: Broward school security specialist is accused of abusing student Thurston was fired for excessive force in 2022. The sheriff's office recommended the State Attorney's Office charge him with battery the previous year, but prosecutors declined. He was arrested three years later on charges of aggravated child abuse and aggravated battery after being hired by Broward County Public Schools to work security at Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach. Pryor defended his office's handling of both cases against Thurston. 'Thurston was criminally charged in February of this year on an unrelated matter and is currently facing criminal prosecution by our agency,' Pryor said. 'As with all cases, we will file criminal charges when we have facts and evidence to support them.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
"SOS": Detained Cuban immigrants spell out protest inside detention center
Detained Cubans demonstrated inside the Krome Detention Center in Miami, Florida, on Thursday, spelling out 'SOS,' 'CUBA' and 'LIBRE' using their bodies and towels. Video captured by a news helicopter showed the detainees protesting President Donald Trump's mass deportation efforts in the detention center's courtyard. South Florida's NBC6 reports the men kneeled, clapped their hands together, and waved their shirts at the passing helicopter. A relative of one of the detainees told the outlet that they were demonstrating against a transfer to a Texas detention facility and eventual deportation. Cruel conditions have been reported at the detention center. The wife of one detainee who was briefly held at Krome said the center had "hundreds of people living under two tents." Her husband was transferred to Miami's Federal Detention Center, which she claims is making it difficult for detainees to speak to lawyers and forcing inmates to spend most of the day in cells. 'The conditions of the federal building (are) insane,' she detainees at Krome have died while in custody since Trump assumed office in January. Despite the medical examiner's office determining that they died of natural causes, an investigation from the Miami Herald found evidence of what experts called 'questionable medical care' for the two immigrants. House Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., visited Krome in May. She called what she saw there 'very troubling.'
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Miami Herald
Cuban detainees launch protest at Krome detention center, line up to form SOS signs
Dozens of Cuban detainees being held at the Krome detention center launched a protest Thursday morning inside the immigration facility in southwest Miami-Dade, saying they are fed up with prolonged detention. Many of the detainees have been stuck in an endless limbo, they told the Miami Herald, because Cuba won't accept them back and the U.S. won't release them. Some have been in detention since last year. Dressed in gray sweatsuits, the detainees wrote 'SOS Cuba' on their shirts with pens. They also lined up in the recreation yard to spell out 'SOS' with their bodies and 'Cuba' with white cloth. They sat on the floor and refused to return inside. Speaking on the phone with reporters the night before, one of the men said the Cubans were united in the effort and planning to start a hunger strike. They heard they might be transferred to a prison in Texas. 'It's an injustice,' he said. 'We don't want to be moved to another prison.' Many of them had just arrived at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility this week, after they were transferred from Glades County Detention Center, another immigration facility near Lake Okeechobee. They said that they were given poor food and suffered from lack of medical care at Glades. The youngest are in their twenties and the oldest are in their seventies. 'Clearly with Trump, everything has changed, and they are taking everything to the limit,' one detainee from Venezuela who witnessed the protest told the Herald. The Krome Detention Center is one of five facilities across Florida that holds immigrants in ICE custody. According to data released by ICE on May 12, about 800 people are detained there, though there were as many as 1,100 last week, according to U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who toured the facility on May 29. The Miami Herald reached out to ICE for comment about Thursday's protest. Across the facility's different dormitories, other detainees heard the noise. 'They are screaming 'freedom,' among other things,' said the Venezuelan detainee. One Cuban detainee, speaking to reporters on the phone from the detention center, said they were protesting because they feared being sent out of Florida or to a third country like South Sudan. The Trump administration recently deported two Cubans with criminal records to the East African country. He said that he wasn't joining because he didn't want to hurt his own case, but he supports what his fellow countrymen are doing. He said he had a message for local politicians and President Donald Trump: 'Have a change of heart.' At around 11 a.m., guards at the facility started moving protesters inside, but some remained in the yard. 'They're fighting them, they're fighting them,' one detainee said on the phone, observing from his room. He said that guards were confronting the protesters. A protester who had returned inside spoke to reporters through a tablet. 'The abuse doesn't stop,' he said.
