Miami

‘Hell on Earth': The Three Days in Jail For Man Wrongfully Arrested

What to Know

  • Two men arrested over the weekend for a Liberty City shooting from April were released on Tuesday.
  • Police released the men after reviewing video evidence corroborating their alibis.
  • The search for the people responsible for the shooting that killed two students and injured two others continues.

One day after being released from jail, 21-year-old Yaairnes Bryant of Liberty City says he no longer wants to live in Miami after he was wrongfully charged with first-degree murder.

Bryant was arrested alongside 19-year-old Anthony Clinch on Saturday and charged in an April 8 shooting that killed two Miami Northwestern Senior High School students and injured two others.

After video surfaced Tuesday of Clinch in a different location the night of the shooting, the Miami Police Department ordered the release of the two men.

A warrant for a third suspect, 19-year-old Deondre McDuffy, was canceled, as well.

“Three days in jail was hell. Hell on earth,” Bryant said.

Bryant says he was home with his 3-year-old daughter when police arrived at his door. He says he didn’t immediately open the door because he didn’t know why they were there.

“They got guns drawn [while my] kid is in the house. They were threatening, talking about throwing gas and letting the dogs in. It was crazy,” Bryant said.

At a news conference Tuesday night, Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina would not say what led them to name Bryant and Clinch as suspects, but Bryant says he believes it was word of mouth and rumors that spread throughout people in the community.

He says that, along with the perception that he is a murderer, has his family thinking of moving.

“Everybody knows that we were innocent, but that still doesn’t change the image put on me,” Bryant said. “We were never monsters. I want people to know I’m innocent. I’m a good person. I’m out here living for my daughter. Everything else I could care less about.”

Police are still looking for leads in the shooting, and have publicly said they will double their efforts.

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