MIAMI – A 28-year-old man is facing a murder charge in the fatal shooting of a neighbor who worked at the Army & Air Force Exchange store in the Homestead Air Reserve Base, police said on Friday.
Police officers arrested Lazaro Simmons, of Miami Gardens, Thursday on a June 30 arrest warrant for the murder of 33-year-old Elzondro “Enn” McDowell.
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A boy, McDowell’s son, witnessed the shooting on June 27 at an apartment building on U.S. 1 and Southwest 167 Avenue, according to Miami-Dade Detective Hector Montenegro’s report on the arrest warrant’s affidavit.
Miami Fire Rescue personnel pronounced McDowell dead after police officers found him lying face upward on the first-floor hallway outside of his apartment, according to Montenegro.
The boy told police officers Simmons instigated an argument with McDowell, pulled out a gun, and when he shot at his father he ran away to hide, according to Montenegro.
Simmons had threatened to kill McDowell before the shooting, according to Montenegro. The conflict was over a woman who was McDowell’s neighbor and the mother of Simmons’s child.
Simmons has been held without bond since police officers arrested him on Thursday. He is facing a charge of second-degree murder with a weapon. Court records show he pleaded not guilty on Friday.
Detectives were asking anyone with information about the case to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477
Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Louis Wilson contributed to this report.
Location of the crime scene