A Miami Gardens man who has been arrested more than 20 times is being charged with the murders of two men in the city, police said.
Miami Gardens Police said Thursday that Kumasi Ford, 20, shot and killed Paul Royal on July 24, 2012. He would have turned 20 years old on Thursday.
Ford is also charged with the murder of Raymon Mills, who was murdered outside his home on Nov. 4, according to police.
Ford was one of seven people arrested after police executed a search warrant at a home in northwest Miami-Dade Wednesday night. Royal’s family was at the news conference announcing his arrest Thursday.
“We’ve tried very hard to raise someone who would become a productive citizen, and we could have not asked for any more from him. So we thank God, and we thank you, the city of Miami Gardens,” his stepmother said.
The murders, which police said are not related, happened blocks away from each other.
Miami Gardens has had a string of violent crimes recently – including 10 shootings over 11 days. Several of those were fatal.
Police have stepped up patrols in certain neighborhoods and are arresting people for committing minor crimes.
The city's mayor, Oliver Gilbert, is adamant about stopping the violence.
“We will do everything and anything we can so that people can walk out their house and feel like they can walk back in their house safely,” he said at the news conference. “We’re going to do that. We’re going to do that because we need our young people.”
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