False report may have started hours-long standoff inside Miami nightclub

MIAMI – A report that at least 12 employees were being held hostage inside a 24-hour restaurant and nightclub in Miami prompted a four-hour standoff with city SWAT officers Monday afternoon. But police say no hostages were found.

Police say they first went to Joseph’s Club in Little Havana because a woman reported that she was robbed of her cellphone. While officers were speaking to that woman, a second woman came running out of the club and said she and others were being held hostage inside by management.

Miami Police Department SWAT team members made their way inside the club shortly after 5 p.m. and about an hour later said the situation had been cleared, and there was nobody inside the club. Several people have been detained for questioning.

Look for updates on this story, from KSAT’s sister station in Miami, WPLG Local 10.