A mother and her son were minding their own business in the lobby of Miami’s Crystal Beach Suites Hotel, on Monday, when someone noticed they were less than six feet apart from each other on a sofa. He decided to correct the problem by pulling out a gun and opening fire.
Vigilante at a Beach front hotel
Douglas Marks takes Covid-19 precautions to the extreme. He became more than a little perturbed on Monday night as he was checking into a Miami beach-front hotel. The White male, allegedly a Florida resident, noticed a mother sitting with her son on a couch in the lobby.
As described in the police report, Marks politely informed the mother and son “Y’all aren’t social distancing.” When the hotel guests didn’t respond, he added, “Y’all need to leave.” Veronica Pena and her son continued to avoid eye contact, hoping he would go away. He didn’t. Marks casually told the crowd he had it under control. “Let me take care of them, I have two people not following directions.” He had asked once, nicely. Now, it was time for action.
As Miami PD relates, “Marks then pulled out a firearm and fired several shots.” According to “an anonymous male witness” at the hotel, who “shielded the mother and son during the shooting,” there were “like six” shots fired in total. Police add that Marks “continued to scream commands to social distance while holding the firearm and subsequently fired several shots.”
Nervous guests in the rooms above
As described by another witness to the hotel havoc, “The guy came and started shooting. The son and the mom were, like, crying, and they were scared.” Guests in their rooms above the lobby heard the shots and were terrified because they had no idea what was happening.
Hotel Guest Elio Rodriguez was in a room with his wife and child when gunfire erupted. His first instinct was to protect his family. “‘Bam! Bam!’ Real loud, loud. I just grabbed everybody and put them on the floor,” Rodriguez local reporters. “I grabbed my daughter and everybody and put them on the floor.”
Thankfully, nobody was injured. Everyone is still pointing at the bullet hole in the floor only inches from the front desk. When cops arrived, Marks surrendered without incident and “later admitted to the shooting.” He had no reason to deny it. He made sure to get it into the record that he “asked the hotel front desk to call 911 before firing four warning shots.” He apologized for being a little edgy but he shot up the lobby because “he was being followed by someone.”
Marks was charged bright and early Tuesday morning with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, use of a firearm to commit a felony, and discharging a firearm in public. He can get out of Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center branch of the gray bar hotel chain, by posting an $11,000 bond.