WEST LITTLE RIVER, Fla. – A shooting left a 46-year-old Miami Senior High School’s football coach dead on Monday in Miami-Dade County’s West Little River neighborhood, police said. Miami-Dade school board members held a moment of silence in his honor during an afternoon meeting.
Detective Alvaro Zabaleta, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department, said the victim was Corey Smith, a Miami-Dade County Public Schools' employee who was a member of the athletics' staff at the high school.
Zabaleta said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel pronounced Smith dead inside his home near the intersection of Northwest 96th Terrace and Northwest 21st Avenue. He also said there was a 15-year-old boy inside the home at the time of the shooting. The boy wasn’t injured.
Manny Diaz, University of Miami’s football coach, was among the many who were mourning the loss of the football coach.
“Our entire football program is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Corey Smith,” Diaz wrote in a statement. “Our condolences go out to his family and the entire Miami High community.”
Willie Jones, Smith’s neighbor and friend, said the beloved coach’s death at his home was a great loss to the community.
“He always got them on the right path,” Jones said, adding “There’s a lot of kids that’s in the league, college, probably wouldn’t even have made it through high school without him because he was always there for them like a big brother, uncle, father figure.”
Smith started to work with Miami-Dade County Public Schools in 1999, and he also taught at Charles Drew Middle School in Miami-Dade’s Brownsville neighborhood. Tyrone Hilton said it was Smith’s dream job. He credited him with propelling his son’s career. T.Y. Hilton, an NFL wide receiver, plays with the Indianapolis Colts.
“He touched a lot of lives, a lot of young kids minds,” said Hilton. “A role model in this community.”s.
Smith’s home is east of the Village Flea Market and Mall where Rev. Gregory Boyd was killed in the crossfire of a Sept. 10 shooting. Local 10 News journalists witnessed the shooting while reporting on 7-year-old Alana Washington’s shooting death.
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Community grieves
DADE COUNTY MOURNING ABOUT THIS ONE 😢💔😢💔 COACH COREY
Posted by Nathaniel Greatone on Monday, September 21, 2020
Boy that news bought tears to my eyes. RIP Coach Corey Smith
Posted by Kennek Angel Rose on Monday, September 21, 2020
R.I.P Coach Corey Smith💔 All I can say is wow, Fly High you’ve gained your wings
Posted by Nonchalant CheChe on Monday, September 21, 2020
Com’on Man 2020 You Done Struck Once Again. Not You Coach😪 R.I.P My Brother Corey Smith
Posted by Thomas E. Clark on Monday, September 21, 2020
Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Sandra Antonio contributed to this report.