MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – There was a two-vehicle crash in a parking lot, an argument, and a fatal shooting on Sunday morning in northwest Miami-Dade County. Detectives said a young Puerto Rican man armed with a .223 caliber rifle was in the middle of it all.
They identified him as Orly Yeriel Cintron-Nieves, who fled the area of Northwest 32 Avenue and 35 Street, on Sunday, near Brownsville, in a silver 2018 Toyota Camry— but not for long. Sources familiar with the case later identified the victim as Junior A. Meraz Martinez. He was 26.
Recommended Videos
According to an arrest report released on Monday, a witness recorded a video of the Toyota Camry, and police officers found it parked in a driveway along Southwest 138 Place, south of 158 Terrace in Richmond West.
According to detectives, Cintron-Nieves, who turned 23 in November, ran when he saw police officers, but a police dog caught up to him, bit him, and officers arrested him. He was injured. Miami-Dade fire rescue personnel took him to Jackson Memorial South Medical Center.
Once a doctor discharged Citron-Nieves, Miami-Dade detectives questioned him at the department’s homicide bureau in Doral, and he confessed to shooting Meraz Martinez several times with a rifle.
Meanwhile, near Brownsville, a black tarp covered a white truck and Miami-Dade police officers surrounded it after the shooting. Witnesses reported Meraz Martinez had been with friends at the nearby Cleopatra Cafe and they saw the Toyota Camry hit the 2020 Dodge Durango in the parking lot.
According to detectives, two groups got into an argument in the parking lot and there was a fistfight when Richard Susana took out a rifle and fired a warning shot — before Cintron-Nieves allegedly grabbed it away from him and shot Meraz Martinez.
Fire rescue personnel rushed Meraz Martinez to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center where a doctor pronounced him dead nearly an hour after the shooting Sunday. Detective Andre D. Martin, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department, released a statement on Monday morning.
“The victim unfortunately died from the gunshot wounds,” Martin wrote without releasing an identification.
Records show Miami-Dade correctional officers booked Cintron-Nieves shortly after 5:40 a.m., on Monday, at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. He was facing charges in two cases.
When Cintron-Nieves was accused of second-degree murder with a weapon, he was out on a felony bond. The charges in the warrant case are for aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, three counts of resisting an officer with violence, and three counts of resisting arrest without violence.
Local 10 News Reporter Annaliese Garcia and Assignment Desk Editors Kelly Davis, Joyce Grace Ortega, and Mercedes Cevallos contribute to this report.
Location