'Don't Be The Devil': Officers Search For Leads In Toddler's Death
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- As officers search for the gunman who killed a 2-year-old boy, the father of another slain child urges the community to speak up if they know something.
It is a mistake not to speak up. That's according to a man who knows. Santonio Carter lost his 6-year-old son, King Carter, to a stray bullet. Later arrests were made.
Carter told CBS4, "my best advice is to get out into the community. Do not be silent. don't be numb about your child."
Carter was a relentless presence in the community after the death of his son and it paid off.
In total four individuals were taken in by Miami-Dade Police.
"The more work you put in on the street, the more involved you will be. That's how much participation you will get back," Carter said while speaking via Facetime from Atlanta.
He urged those responsible to turn themselves in.
"Don't be the devil, it is Christmas time. The family needs closure," said Carter.
On the same day, more than a dozen officers took to the streets to get more info on who killed Carnell Williams-Thomas - just two-years-old.
"We're going to split up, we're going to go where we need to go. We're going to show this kind of thing will not be tolerated," said Miami-Dade Police Major Samuel Bronson Monday, addressing fifteen police officers who then fanned out across the Arthur Mays Complex in Goulds.
The boy was fatally wounded in the SW Miami-Dade project just after dark Friday night by a bullet intended for someone else, or perhaps just randomly fired in the courtyard of the sprawling complex. Airlifted to Kendall Regional Medical center, the child was pronounced dead.
Police are now in a desperate, determined search for the shooter.
"We're going to do everything possible to make sure that we find a killer. That's just the bottom line. We're going to find a killer," Maj. Bronson told CBS4 News Monday.
"He was an innocent baby, and it could have been my grandson," Keesha Brown told an officer who knocked on her door with a flyer bearing Carnell's photo. Brown's daughter was emptying the trash in a dumpster just steps from where the two-year-old was shot.
On Monday, an orange evidence marker painted on the pavement pointed to where the child fell.
"I'm scared. Terrified, very terrified to even tell my daughter she can take out the trash after dark," Brown said.
Her daughter heard the shot and saw a lone figure run from the scene.
The killing of the child comes in a complex where gunfire is commonplace.
"It's the community that we're livin' in. My heart goes out to the parent of the little two-year-old. She's got my sympathy, 'cause it could have been any kid," said resident and mother, Yvette Lee.
The murdered boy's sister, who gave her first name as Shell, would not speak of the unspeakable Monday.
"I can't talk about this right now. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I can't talk about this right now," the sister said.
Police are hoping someone will talk and lead them to Carnell's murderer.
"We know that somebody out here has information," said Maj. Bronson.\
Anyone with information leading to the shooter may call Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS and be eligible to collect a reward that has now reached $25,000.