MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Police arrested a suspect Tuesday who they believe is responsible for the fatal shooting of a young man at a Miami Gardens apartment complex last April.
According to an arrest warrant from the Miami Gardens Police Department, Rasheed Donovan Dean, 21, is facing a second-degree murder charge in the killing of 20-year-old Iverson Vilsaint.
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A woman found Vilsaint’s body around 6:30 a.m. on April 1, 2022, behind the leasing office and basketball court area of the Villa Del Lago apartment complex off Northwest 14th Place.
After responding to the woman’s call, Miami Gardens police said they found Vilsaint suffering from a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene around 6:50 a.m. by Miami Fire Rescue, according to the arrest warrant.
“He was laying here -- like he was laying there, and I thought that’s unusual. It’s an unusual place to be laying, even if you’re drunk, it’s unusual,” the resident, who asked to remain unidentified, told Local 10 News last April.
Authorities said after the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Officer responded to the scene, investigators said Vilsaint had holstered a 9mm semi-automatic pistol in his waistband.
The examination further revealed an apparent gunshot wound on the right side of Vilsaint’s head behind his right ear, according to police.
Authorities said while the shooting was being investigated, the Broward Sheriff’s Office contacted Miami Gardens police after Dean had been taken into custody as part of a grand theft auto investigation.
During a search of the vehicle that Dean was driving, deputies said the vehicle was reported stolen by the Hallandale Beach Police Department on March 28, 2022.
Detectives said after further examination of the vehicle, they observed a large amount of blood, human tissue and an empty gun holster.
After Dean was brought in by the Broward Sheriff’s Office for an interview, deputies showed him pictures of Vilsaint to which Dean indicated that the victim “looked familiar,” according to the arrest warrant.
Dean told deputies that he had known Vilsaint for a few months and picked him up in Fort Lauderdale around 7 p.m. on March 28.
According to the warrant. Dean said that he and Vilsaint were together throughout the night driving around when they arrived at the Villa Del Lago apartment complex and began to smoke and listen to music.
Dean told police that while they were sitting in the car Vilsaint pulled out a silver gun and began to wave it around.
A few moments later, Vilsaint put the gun back in his holster but then pulled out another black handgun and began to wave the second gun around, the warrant stated.
Dean told police he felt scared because the gun was waving in his direction.
No other information was given in the arrest warrant.
As of Wednesday, Dean was booked into the Miami-Dade County Pre-Trial Detention Center where he is being held without bond.