20-Year-Old Fatally Shot In NE Miami-Dade
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A young man, who family and friends said had a promising future ahead of him, is dead after being shot in the leg.
Marquise Lynwood Warren, 20, was killed outside his home Wednesday. Family and friends said he was a former high school basketball MVP.
"He was a very special young man," said Joy Cooper, a family friend of the victim, "His passion was basketball, that's all he cared about, basketball and going off to college and going to the NBA--and someone stole his dream from him."
Warren, family said, was taking out trash around midnight when they heard a boom. They then saw him crawl inside their home at 1392 NE 147th Street bleeding from a gunshot wound in his leg.
The bullet hit a main artery in Warren's leg and he bled out. Warren was taken to Aventura Hospital where he died.
"With all the crime and the violence he was not about violence at all. It was about sports, school, sports and school. That was his life," said Cooper.
Warren, who graduated from Miami Beach High in 2014, was preparing to leaving for college in West Palm Beach in three weeks.
It is an agonizing loss for all who knew Warren and the dreams that died with him especially his high school basketball Coach Jacob Shaw.
"I'm a father figure for all my kids but he was the first point guard I had and the best. I talked to him most," said Shaw.
Shaw says at least four colleges were offering Warren scholarships and next week he was going to take him to various campuses to make a choice.
"Every kid has a shot at making it to the NBA with his work ethic and talent and skills. He could have made it to the NBA or overseas. His talent was a lot higher than a lot of kids in Dade County," said Shaw.
Police dogs sniffed around the yard for clues to help lead cops to the shooter.
"It's like a mystery to us. Why? Who? And what reason? What reason would anyone want to take a young, 20-year-old young man's life away from him?" Cooper said.
Police are trying to determine what led to the shooting. The motive and shooter remain unknown.
"I think it was random or mistaken identity. The kid was not in trouble at all. He was about playing basketball and as a team, we didn't deal with that stuff," said Shaw.
Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS.