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Prosecutor to ask grand jury to investigate Miami condo collapse

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said she will request that the jury "look at what steps we can take to safeguard our residents."

02:24
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/prosecutor-ask-grand-jury-investigate-miami-condo-building-collapse-n1272704

June 30, 2021, 8:32 AM CDT / Updated June 30, 2021, 9:00 AM CDT
By Elisha Fieldstadt

Miami's top prosecutor said she will ask a grand jury to investigate last week's partial collapse of a Miami Beach-area condo building.

"My office has a long tradition of presenting more than just criminal cases to the Grand Jury," Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said Tuesday in a statement. "Our Grand Juries have also served as a cross-section of the community to evaluate matters of health and public safety," she said, adding that the grand jury issued a report in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

"I plan to request that our Grand Jury look at what steps we can take to safeguard our residents without jeopardizing any scientific, public safety, or potential criminal investigations," she added.

It is not clear when Fernandez Rundle plans to bring the matter before grand jurors.

She said she sent prosecutors as well as victim specialists to the site last Thursday morning, hours after nearly half of Champlain Towers South in the town of Surfside flattened.

Officials said Tuesday night that 12 people were confirmed dead, and 149 were still unaccounted for.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will visit Surfside on Thursday, the White House announced Tuesday.

More than 200 people are working on the mound of rubble in what authorities say is still a search and rescue operation.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/prosecutor-ask-grand-jury-investigate-miami-condo-building-collapse-n1272704