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U.S. NEWS Monday 10 april 2017
Florida Shooting:

Police say gunman had just been fired from fitness center

urday’s shooting. She told to. The New Jersey native
The Miami Herald that he was once chosen out of
didn’t seem distracted and more than 1,000 students
that she didn’t notice any- as the student leader
thing unusual during their for the prestigious South
session. Beach Wine & Food Festi-
The mall is a few miles val and later went to work
from the University of Mi- at the Fontainebleau hotel,
ami campus. Ackerman he added.
studied on a field hockey She’d been promoted to
scholarship at Florida Inter- general manager of the
national University. upscale gym in August.
University Vice Provost “My initial reaction was,
Steve Moll, who taught ‘No, this can’t be. Why
Ackerman while she was would anybody want to
working on a master’s hurt such a lovely person’,”
degree in hospitality, de- he said.
scribed her as “the whole Friends and colleagues de-
package.” scribed Hortis as a beloved
“She was smart, she was spinning instructor with a
A man is evacuated from the scene after a gunman opened fire athletic, she was charming, generous spirit and warm
at the Shops at Merrick Park in Coral Gables, Fla., on Saturday, she was determined,” he demeanor. A photo of Hor-
April 8, 2017.
(Al Diaz/Miami Herald via AP) said in a phone interview. tis clad in black workout
KELLI KENNEDY the statement said. He said she was a hard clothes, sitting on a bike
Associated Press Marc Sarnoff, who previ- worker who shined at ev- while leading a class circu-
The man who shot and ously trained with Wilson erything she set her mind lated online.q
killed two managers at a for two years, saw him at
Florida gym before turning the gym before Saturday’s
the gun on himself had just shooting and noticed
been fired from the fitness something was wrong.
center for workplace vio- Wilson typically was “very
lence, police said Sunday. buttoned up, very proper,
The Miami-Dade Police De- very appropriate,” Sarnoff
partment said in a state- said in a phone interview.
ment Sunday that 33-year- But on Saturday, Wilson
old Abeku Wilson of Miami physically bumped into
was let go Saturday as a fit- Sarnoff and his current
ness trainer at the Equinox trainer. The usually adept
gym in Coral Gables “due Wilson seemed noticeably
to workplace violence and off-kilter.“He wasn’t clean-
was escorted off the prem- shaven ... and he seemed
ises.” to be slurring his words,”
Authorities didn’t elabo- said Sarnoff. “He said, ‘I’m
rate on what that violence sorry I’m just off balance
involved.Shortly after his this morning’.”
dismissal, Wilson returned An Instagram account in
to the gym with a handgun his name is filled with shirt-
and fired multiple shots less, muscly photos talking
at both managers before about body building com-
fatally shooting himself. petitions that he was pre-
Police said the managers paring for. In December, a
were deliberately target- posting said he had gotten
ed and that the shooting a blue belt in martial arts.
wasn’t random.Equinox is- The shooting happened
sued an email statement about 1 p.m. Saturday at
Sunday that it was “deeply the upscale Shops at Mer-
saddened” by the deaths rick Park. Shoppers, din-
of the two employees, ers at mall restaurants and
35-year-old Janine Acker- people in workout gear ran
man of Miami and 42-year- to safety or took cover af-
old Marios Hortis of Miami ter reports of gunfire.
Beach. Ackerman was “Five gunshots,” Ovi Viera,
the gym’s general man- who was in the men’s lock-
ager and Hortis the fit- er room, told The Miami
ness manager.“Our love, Herald. “It was too loud for
prayers and condolences it to have been a weight
are with both families dur- dropping. Within two sec-
ing this terrible time. The onds, people just started
collective Equinox commu- running out.”
nity will always keep Janine Wilson trained Eveliny Bas-
and Marios in our hearts,” tos-Klein shortly before Sat-