A view of the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center in Miami. (Photo/JTA-Josefin Dolsten)
A view of the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center in Miami. (Photo/JTA-Josefin Dolsten)

Shooting at Miami-Dade JCC leaves 1 dead in what police called an act of domestic violence

By Shira Hanau, JTA | April 4, 2022

A woman was killed at the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center in Florida’s Miami-Dade County on Sunday in what police are calling an act of domestic violence.

Police said the woman was killed by her husband while she attended her daughter’s swimming lesson. In a statement, the community center said police believed there to be “no known threat to the Jewish community.”

Across the country, Jewish community centers are widely used by Jews and non-Jews alike. A different shooting at an Indianapolis JCC in February stemmed from a dispute during a basketball game and did not involve Jews or represent a threat to the Jewish community, authorities there said.

The statement by the Miami-Dade JCC also credited the safety trainings taken by the organization’s staff for keeping others in the building in the building safe.

“Thankfully, years of drills and numerous safety protocols ensured the safety of our members, staff, and community,” the statement said.

Shira Hanau
Shira Hanau

Shira Hanau is a reporter at JTA. She was previously a staff writer at the New York Jewish Week and has written for the Forward, Columbia Journalism Review and the Harvard Divinity Bulletin.

JTA

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