Detectives have few clues and family and friends are mystified in the case of a sixteen-year-old boy who was fatally shot Friday night while walking home in Miami Gardens.
"We're not sure exactly what we have," said Miami Gardens Police Captain Ralph Suarez. "It doesn't look like a robbery, but we're not sure exactly what we have."
A gunman dressed in all black approached the teen, identified by friends as "Joe," and opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon. The boy was able to run home despite a gunshot wound to his back, but collapsed and was pronounced dead on scene.
Those close to Joe took to Facebook Saturday to express their grief as investigators searched for a motive.
"Everybody's devastated right now. People just come and go, you know? [It's] crazy," said a neighbor who declined to identify himself. "He just comes out here, plays football with us, chills, make jokes.”
Family say the teenager was headed home around 9 p.m. when the incident occured at Northwest 36th Avenue near the intersection of 176th Terrace, and that he was "minding his own business" when shot.
"He was approached by a black male, all dressed in black, that we're looking for now," Suarez confirmed. "He shot at [the victim] approximately nine to 10 times."
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Shauntre Bell, a friend of the victim, described a horrible scene and couldn't say why anyone would shoot Joe.
"His sisters ran outside, saying that Joe got shot and he was dying in the house and nobody would do anything,” she said. "He gets along with everybody. He doesn't cause problems...stays out of trouble."
Witnesses descibed the suspect as a black male with dreads, and anyone with information is asked to call the Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
