South Florida

Teen Gunned Down in Little Haiti is Latest in String of Young People Being Killed

Police are investigating after a young teenager was shot and killed as he walked his girlfriend home in the overnight hours Thursday in Little Haiti.

According to police, 16-year-old Jarvis Henderson was walking the young woman back to her home near North Miami Avenue and Northeast 59th Terrace when two people in a car pulled up next to them. The passenger had a gun.

"The passenger of the vehicle apparently shot at the victim, striking him in the head," said Miami Police spokesperson Frederica Burden.

The vehicle fled the scene in an unknown direction. Police said it was a gold, four-door Jeep Cherokee.

It's just the latest in a string of crimes seeing young people being killed.

Whats worse is that the handful of cases of children and teens being shot are going unsolved and there are no suspects. And that according to statistics is the case not only in Miami, but also the county.

"He never bothered anybody, he always tried to help his friends, anything that they need," mother Lasheika Henderson said. "He was just a good person."

Its a memory that's becoming all too familiar, as another teenager is mourned. Jarvis Henderson was shot and killed as he stood next to his girlfriend in Little Haiti. Those who knew him are heartbroken.

Henderson, by many accounts was a good kid, a good student, a good son, and a good friend.

Lasheika Henderson said her son was a junior at Miami Edison High School and was a good student who looked forward to attending college one day.

His girlfriend's mother said her daughter was completely distraught and can't stop crying.

"I start crying too because I know Jarvis, he's good kid, not troublemaker," said Marie Cadet. "He's always good in school, good student... I don't know what's going on."

This is the third teenager killed in Miami since March. That's when two other teens were both shot and killed randomly in separate incidents, in different locations.

This week pastors, police and the State Attorneys Office announced a plan for prayer and a program for jobs to help lower crime on the streets.

The statistics on unsolved shootings are baffling. According to State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle in 2014, there were 152 shootings, only 15 solved. In 2013, there were 136 shootings, only 24 solved and in 2012, there were 129 shootings, with only 23 solved.

At Edison Senior High where Henderson went to school, students and staff can only hope that he does not just become one of those statistics.

"It's a very sad day, a very unfortunate day, a very tragic day," Principal Trynegwa Diggs said. "It's one of the toughest days I've had as an administrator and as a human being in general."

Anyone with information is asked to call Miami Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.

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