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Miami-area poet Will Bell gunned down

By the CNN Wire Staff
Will "Da Real One" Bell was shot and killed while closing his Literary Café and Poetry Lounge.
Will "Da Real One" Bell was shot and killed while closing his Literary Café and Poetry Lounge.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Will "Da Real One" Bell was a fixture on the Miami spoken-word scene
  • He was shot and killed while closing his cafe, North Miami Police said
RELATED TOPICS
  • Miami
  • Florida
  • Murder and Homicide
  • Poetry

(CNN) -- Police in North Miami, Florida, are investigating the weekend slaying of a local poet and cafe owner who was gunned down in front of his business, a police spokesman said Sunday.

Will "Da Real One" Bell was shot and killed while closing his Literary Café and Poetry Lounge, North Miami police Maj. Neal Cuevas said. Two men in dark clothing were spotted leaving the scene in a car, Cuevas said.

Bell, 47, appeared twice on HBO's "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry" in 2003 and 2004 and won several performance competitions. Miami's alternative weekly New Times named him the city's best poet in 2005, writing that Bell "spits words like high-caliber machine-gun fire, and his booming voice sets ears ablaze."

Cuevas said nothing was taken in the robbery, but would not discuss any possible motive.

CNN's Maggie Schneider contributed to this report.