Man arrested in connection to deadly triple shooting at Miami gas station that left 2 dead, 1 critically injured
MIAMI — A man is in custody in connection to the triple shooting at a Miami gas station that left two employees dead and another man hospitalized earlier this weekend.
The City of Miami Police confirmed to CBS News Miami Sunday morning that they have arrested 23-year-old Jason Craig Dyer-Mitchell for the shooting that left Chevron employees 51-year-old Shahbaz Hussain and 42-year-old Shamun Shaukat dead, and 57-year-old Elijah Shorter critically injured at JMH Trauma Center early Saturday morning.
When CBS News Miami's Nikiya Carrero went out to the scene to investigate on Saturday evening, police officers and a SWAT team moved onto an apartment building across the street and took one man from inside that building into custody. That man was later revealed to be Dyer-Mitchell. He is currently facing second-degree murder charges, including two involving prejudice.
"We've got a total of three victims," an officer is heard over the police scanners when first responders arrive on the scene. "Two inside and one outside. It looks like two may be [dead] and one is still alive."
By the time officers arrived around 12:30 a.m. Saturday, the suspect was nowhere to be found.
Customers who frequented the gas station told Carrero that Hussain and Shaukat were known as "Sunny and Moon" to everybody.
"What is this world coming to?" asked customer Ronnie. "These guys — I haven't seen them do nothing but help people. I mean people in come [who] don't have money... [Hussain and Shaukat] help people — feed them, give them coffee — they give me free coffee every day."
"I've been crying all day," said Kathleen Quinn, another customer. "One of them I was close to."
When detectives arrived about an hour after first responders, they began interviewing witnesses, who told them that they saw Dyer-Mitchell inside the store before Shaukat confronted him for allegedly shoplifting, the arrest affidavit wrote. At this moment, the two began to argue while Hussain and Shorter were next to them. Then, the dispute escalated when Dyer-Mitchell drew his gun and shot all three men before fleeing the gas station and into the nearby apartment building.
Later Saturday morning, detectives were notified by their sergeant that he recognized the suspect's hoodie belonging to a local gym and then interviewed gym employees to confirm Dyer-Mitchell was the suspect, and that his listed address was at the apartment building across the street from the Chevron.
Quinn told Carrero that she was nearby when the SWAT situation unfolded at the apartment building just before 5:30 p.m., where Dyer-Mitchell was arrested.
"A million cars... tanks and about 10 minutes later, I saw them about five or six cops putting him in the back of the car," she said.
As police continue their investigation, people in the area say the shooting hits close to home.
"Moon and Sunny are two of the best people in this area," one customer told Carrero.
"There ain't too many nice people in the world today," Ronnie said. "But these guys are really nice and they didn't deserve it."
