MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A 34-year-old man appeared in court on an attempted murder charge Thursday after Miami Beach police accused him of shooting another man in the back with a stolen gun earlier in the week.
The shooting happened at around 6:15 p.m. Tuesday near the corner of 16th Street and West Avenue in South Beach, according to police.
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Police said the victim, who was shot in the back, knew the shooter, John C. Lewis, by his Instagram handle of “v10_fresh.”
An arrest report states the victim suffered serious injuries and later required emergency surgery. According to police, the shooting was premeditated, but without a known motive.
Lewis had fled the scene in a gray Volvo with South Carolina plates before officers arrived, the report states. They later spotted the 2004 S60 on the MacArthur Causeway and pulled him over near Watson Island.
The report states officers saw the would-be murder weapon, a black Springfield Armory semi-automatic pistol, in the passenger’s seat.
According to police, the gun was reported stolen in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina back in 2017. Lewis was born in the Palmetto State and now lives in Palmetto Bay, according to the arrest report.
He also has a felony drug conviction out of South Carolina, police said. That led him to be charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, in addition to the aforementioned attempted murder charge.
He also faced counts of using a weapon in the commission of a felony and grand theft of a firearm.
Lewis was being held without bond in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of Thursday afternoon.