MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The suspected gunman in the May murder of a Miami Gardens teen’s romantic rival was moved from juvenile custody on Friday after being charged as an adult in the case, according to court and jail records.
Carlton Rondell Harris, 17, of Opa-locka, was arrested on July 16 after robbing a food store, police said. His alleged accomplice in the Miami Gardens murder, Damareah Dewon Sanders, 17, was already in custody on a second-degree murder charge at the time.
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The fatal shooting happened just after noon on May 24 at a home in the 2800 block of Northwest 184th Street.
Miami Gardens shooting
Sanders, police said, and the victim, William Lee Alexander III, 18, had been dating the same teenager at the same time, a witness told police — she had described Sanders as her ex, however.
Police said Sanders and another person first went into her house and began beating Alexander, who had stayed over the night before, with a broomstick. Sanders then left, but would eventually come back, the warrant states.
The girlfriend was at school at the time and was urged by her sister to come home after the beating, according to police.
After the girlfriend got back home, a witness told police that he heard Sanders tell the girlfriend over the phone: “Why didn’t you tell me he was there?”
The witness told police that he then heard the girlfriend arguing with Alexander in the bedroom.
The girlfriend told police that after the two had returned to the bedroom, they heard Sanders, along with Harris, trying to force their way in, the warrant states. They said the two had gotten into the house through the window of another bedroom.
She told police she heard Harris, who was armed, ask Sanders “that’s him?” as they broke in the room, the warrant states.
According to police, Harris fired a single shot at Alexander, who was later rushed to HCA Florida Aventura Hospital and pronounced dead. The two then ran away.
The witness told police that Harris, whom he knew, wasn’t the person who accompanied Sanders during the broomstick beating.
Robbery leads to arrest, police say
Harris would later be captured in Opa-locka.
According to police, on July 16, Harris, “with the help of accomplices,” was stealing merchandise from the Opa-locka Land Market at 400 Fisherman St. when a store clerk confronted him, resulting in a scuffle.
An arrest report states that Harris, who attended North Gardens High School, pulled a gun on the clerk and then ran off.
Opa-locka police would locate Harris later that day in the 13000 block of Alexandria Drive and arrest him. The gun used in the robbery had been reported stolen out of Miramar, they said.
After being transferred into the custody of Miami Gardens police, Harris managed to move his handcuffs to the front while in a patrol cruiser, damaged a window switch and broke plexiglass that covered the vehicle’s fire extinguisher.
Harris managed to set off the extinguisher and police said they found him covered in carbon dioxide.
He’s being held without bond in the Metro West Detention Center on a charge of second-degree murder, according to jail records.