Seven dead in shootings at apartment block near Miami

The suspect in the fatal shootings of six residents of an apartment building near Miami was himself shot dead Saturday by police.

A dispute about an apartment in the building in Hialeah apparently set off the bloodbath, the Miami Herald newspaper reported. The husband and wife who served as the landlords of the building were among the victims.

Police were called to the building Friday evening after shots were heard in the structure housing 90 families, the Herald reported.

The suspect took two hostages and were holding them at gunpoint in one of the apartments, it reported, citing police spokesman Carl Zogby.

A paramilitary tactical police unit stormed the apartment and fatally shot the suspect, Zogby was quoted as saying. The two hostages were not harmed.

Police then found the bodies of three women and three other men.

The daughter of the landlords — Italo Pisciotti, 78, and Samira Pisciotti, 68 — told the Herald her parents went to talk to a tenant who had filed a complaint.

“It seems like he was the one who shot my mom and my dad,” Shamira Pisciotti, who also lived in the building, was quoted as saying.