CBSMiami) — A Bahamas man looking for a fresh start in South Florida had his life cut short following gunfire outside of a strip club in Ft. Lauderdale.
Police investigate a deadly shooting in front of a strip club near Ft. Lauderdale. (Source: CBS4) The Broward Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a man shot around 4:15 a.m. Wednesday, near the 2800 block of W. Broward Blvd. at Club Pink South.
Not long after that, Junior Demelies said his phone began ringing non-stop.
“I wake up with like 30 missed calls on my phone saying that he’s dead,” said Demelies.
His cousin, Wendell Soliphar, 21, was leaving the club when he was shot and killed. Demelies believes he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“I guess he went out tonight, they were going after somebody else and he just got caught up in the mix,” he said. “We don’t know if it was random or he was targeted. All of that is under investigation.”
Soliphar moved to Miami from the Bahamas a little more than a year ago and was hoping for a new beginning in America, his family said.
“Now people just want to shoot and just take life over the simplest things,” Demelies lamented. “It’s not worth it.”
Soliphar leaves behind an 8-year-old daughter.
Yeah, those that know that area know it's a real bad/hot area - Ft Lauderdale is pretty-anti strip clubs and probably more so now - there was a club at that location 10+ years ago, and this club had recently opened at this location - there's a club not too far away (Club 54) where there's also been a murder and some shootings