Employee arrested in shooting that injured father and 11-year-old daughter at Florida McDonald's
A suspect has been arrested in a weekend shooting outside a South Florida McDonald's that injured a father and his 11-year-old daughter who were caught in the crossfire, police said.
The shooting occurred Saturday afternoon outside a McDonald's in Hallandale Beach, about 18 miles north of Miami, according to police.
The suspected gunman, 18-year-old Ralph N-Kosi Blue III, was arrested on Tuesday at a home in Broward County, Florida, on two counts of aggravated battery and two counts of aggravated assault, according to the Hallandale Beach Police Department.
Blue is an employee of the McDonald's where the shooting occurred, according to police, and allegedly opened fire during a dispute with individuals who confronted him when he arrived at work on Saturday afternoon.
Blue was the only person believed to have fired a gun in the incident, according to police
A father and his daughter were sitting in a car parked in the restaurant parking lot when the shooting started and were hit by gunfire, police said. Two other children, a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old, were also in the car at the time of the shooting but were not hurt, according to police.
"A family was hurt by a reckless act of violence that had nothing to do with them," Hallandale Beach Police Chief Michael Michel said in a statement on Monday.
Michel called the arrest of Blue a "significant step," but said the investigation is "far from over."
"We remain committed to identifying everyone involved and holding them fully accountable," Michel said.
Hallandale Beach police Capt. Megan Jones said the shooting occurred around 1:35 p.m. on Saturday when Blue arrived at the McDonald's and was ambushed by someone who was apparently waiting for him.
Jones said the wife of the man who was injured was inside the McDonald's picking up food when the shooting occurred.
"As soon as she heard the incident, she ran back outside looking to see if her family was involved and discovered that her husband and her child had been shot," Jones said. "We have two innocent bystanders involved in a situation that had nothing to do with them."
The suspects fled the scene before officers arrived, according to Jones.
The wounded father and daughter, whose names were not released, were taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition. The father was treated and has since been released, while his daughter remained hospitalized on Tuesday after undergoing surgery.
Detectives reviewed security video of the incident in an effort to identify those responsible for the shooting, Jones said.
