Brother speaks out after Miami Norland Senior High School football coach gunned down
OPA-LOCKA - Miami-Dade police are asking for the public's help with any information that may lead to the arrest of the man responsible for the killing of a beloved Miami Norland Senior High School football coach.
Coach Keon Smith, 49, was gunned down early Monday morning at 12:50 a.m., at an apartment building in the area of N.W. 132nd St. and 28th Ave in Opa-locka.
Edward Scamp said his brother was "a great person, a great coach, a great role model. He was my brother. He was my blood brother. He was family."
Scamp said the gunman took off, as a woman in the apartment called for help. He said the gunman was unhappy that his brother was at the apartment with that woman.
He said, "He (the gunman) escorted my brother out of the house and told my brother he is not supposed to be there. My brother must have jumped in his car where the situation was and he came back and when my brother came back the guy was still there. He was on the 2nd floor. The guy had gone upstairs to the 2nd floor balcony and then shot my brother in the back of the head."
A spokesman for Miami-Dade Public Schools says Smith had been a quarterback coach at the high school for the past few years and a crisis team was being sent there to help students and others coping with the loss of the coach.
Scamp said, "He meant a whole lot to me. We all coached football for all these years. He has been a football coach for his whole life, like 25-plus years. Miami Norland had one of the best teams in Miami-Dade last year and my brother Keon Smith had been in football all his life. He graduated from Miami Springs. I'd like to say he's been coaching 25-plus years."
Scamp shared a montage of photos showing Smith as a football coach.
"It is just crazy," he said. "I got a call about 3 o'clock to check on my brother. This is unbelievable. We live in Miami where things happen every day."
Scamp says the gunman broke into a window of a first-floor apartment that is now boarded up with plywood and held Smith at gunpoint.
Pointing to the building, Scamp said, "He broke in that window and had an altercation and forced my brother out at gunpoint. He told my brother to leave."
Scamp said he hoped that someone would come forward with a tip to help police but he was not sure if that would happen.
He said, "Sometimes people say they have not seen anything."
Miami-Dade police have not said if they have identified the gunman or have any information to release about him.
A Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $5,000. Anyone with information that can help should call Miami-Dade Police or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS.
On Monday afternoon, homicide detectives from Miami-Dade Police were seen going door to door looking for leads in this case.