2 in custody in Miami MLK day shooting that wounded 8
MIAMI -- Two people are in custody in connection with a Jan. 16 shooting that left eight wounded after Miami’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade, police tell CBS Miami.
Miami-Dade police have said the gunfire at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park was an exchange between gangs. Tuesday morning, Miami-Dade police director Juan Perez announced the arrests, saying the suspects in custody were “responsible for the shooting of those people.”
Police later identified those taken into custody as 18-year-old Gerrell Brownlee and a 17-year-old boy. Both have been charged with attempted second-degree murder. Brownlee was also charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon while the 17-year-old was charged with possession of a firearm by a minor.
Hundreds of people had gathered in the park after the parade in the Liberty City neighborhood. People scattered in all directions when they heard the shots fired.
The wounded ranged in age from 11 to 30. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue transported six of the injured to local hospitals. The other two, both minors, were treated on scene, the station reports.
Perez called the incident “disturbing” and said it happened on a day intended to celebrate the values of King Jr., “equality and peace and all the things he sacrificed his life for.”