MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A 7-year-old boy who was killed in a drive-by shooting over the weekend in southwest Miami-Dade has been identified as Amiere Castro.
Police said Castro was shot at about 3:25 p.m. Sunday at a home on Jackson Street and Southwest 152nd Avenue in Miami-Dade's Richmond Heights neighborhood.
"I went to crying cause I heard the momma over there screaming," neighbor Terresa Mixon said. "I went to crying, she said 'My son, my son.'"
Miami-Dade police spokeswoman Robin Pinkard said four men in a truck fired several shots at a home using a high-powered rifle.
Castro, who was inside the home at the time, was struck by a bullet. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
"I would never think that something like this would happen around Christmastime. We're supposed to be all happy, getting along," Castro's uncle, Elijah Tobler said.
Authorities said Castro was at a family members home at the time of the shooting.Tobler said his nephew was sitting on the couch playing with a pet ferret and watching TV when the bullets came flying in. He said Castro was struck once in the head.
"Guy came over in a white pickup truck, had the hand sticking out the window and started shooting," a witness, Donald Smith, told Local 10 News.
Exclusive video obtained by Local 10 News shows a truck matching the gunmen's vehicle being towed from a nearby home. Police confirmed that they were processing a vehicle, but would not disclose whether it is the same truck that was used in the shooting.
Both Miami-Dade Public Schools superintendent Alberto Carvalho and State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle expressed their outrage about the shooting Monday morning.
"Murderous, cowardly violence during the holiday season claims the life of a seven-year-old child in Miami-Dade. #Unacceptable," Carvalho tweeted. "Difficult to read, hard to believe. One hundred children killed by bullets in Miami-Dade over the past three years."
Fernandez Rundle re-tweeted the superintendent's post adding, "We need EVERYONE to join us in the fight against violence & crime in our community. Our children are dying as a result of guns & street violence. Law enforcement cannot solve these senseless & ruthless child & youth deaths without the community's help. It has to STOP; it is intolerable."
Police said there were two Latino men and two black men inside the newer model white Dodge Ram. The truck had temporary tags, dark tinted windows and stock rims.
One of the men was identified by police as 19-year-old Dravein Duke, who also goes by the name Pop. Police said he should be considered armed and dangerous. Duke is expected to be charged with second-degree murder once he is arrested.
It's unclear why the men were targeting the home.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. A reward of up to $3,000 is being offered for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.