MIAMI FL May 4 2017 — A man who had a dispute with another person started shooting inside a Miami library Wednesday before an officer shot and wounded him, police said. There were no other injuries, but the library was evacuated and then closed for the rest of the day.

The suspect entered the library and began shooting with a handgun about 10:30 a.m., Miami-Dade Detective Alvaro Zabaleta said at a news conference.
An off-duty police officer working a security detail at the library pulled his weapon and shot the unidentified man in the torso, Zabaleta said. The man was taken to a hospital and is in police custody. Zabaleta did not release details about the fight, the identity of the intended target or say whether the suspect had been charged.

He said the shooting was not a random act of violence.

“This was an altercation that began several days back among two individuals and everything culminated here inside the library,” he said.

The shooting caused panic throughout the busy library, where workers quickly implemented a lockdown procedure they had previously prepared. Everyone was later evacuated.

Authorities were initially told that multiple people had been shot, prompting an “abundance of fire rescue officials” to respond to the scene, Zabaleta said.

The library is located in a bustling part of Miami that includes the main county government building, several courthouses and a history museum. Police searched the library after the shooting and deemed the building to be safe, but the library was to remain closed for the rest of the day.

Under department policy, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate the officer’s actions to determine if the shooting was justified.

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