Miami Beach Hotel Employee Shot Dead After Denying Guest Club Entry

A Miami Beach hotel employee is dead after denying a patron entrance into the property’s nightclub.

The brazen murder occurred in the early morning Friday hours at the popular Clevelander Hotel. The victim, 50-year-old Dion David Moore, was working the front desk at the hotel when 29-year-old Brandon Kortez Burris tried to sneak into the hotel’s nightclub by walking through the lobby. After observing Burris try several times to enter the club, Moore approached him and asked him to leave the building.

The two began to argue, and Burris swung at Moore but missed. Moore backed away from the irate man, who retrieved a gun from his waistband and shot the staffer at least six times. Miami Beach Police responded to the scene and found Moore lying in a pool of blood. Burris fled the scene but was located shortly after in the 11th Street and Washington Avenue area. He was found in possession of a handgun missing its magazine.

The Clevelander management released a statement saying that they are “devastated” to learn of Moore’s death and are cooperating with authorities in the investigation.

Eric Jackson, a long-time friend of Moore, said the man was a “pioneer” who was always looking to create new things. He says Moore was not confrontational and wouldn’t have purposefully got into an argument of that magnitude. Moore leaves behind a twin brother, two daughters, a son, and a granddaughter. The family has established A GoFundMe page to help cover his funeral expenses.

Burris is facing a second-degree murder charge.