MIAMI – A 19-year-old man appeared in bond court on Thursday in Miami-Dade County. He was one of three facing charges over an OfferUp meeting that left a 16-year-old boy injured in Homestead.
Miami-Dade County inmate records show correctional officers booked Aureliano Gomez shortly before 1 a.m., on Thursday, at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
According to a police report, Gomez’s accomplices — 16-year-old Tulio Gonzalez and 17-year-old Jairo Garcia — were both South Dade High School students in police custody.
According to police, Homestead officers arrested Gomez shortly before 7:45 p.m., on Wednesday, at his home, near Northeast Fourth Avenue and Campbell Drive.
Two users on the online marketplace mobile app made a deal to trade a minibike for a motorized bicycle and $200, and they agreed to meet on Tuesday, according to police.
That meeting place, in a parking lot at Northwest First Avenue and Ninth Street, turned into a crime scene. There was a shooting and a 16-year-old boy was wounded.
According to police, later, during the investigation into the shooting, both the OfferUp seller and the buyer, claimed they were crime victims.
Detectives used OfferUp and Facebook data to identify the buyer as Tulio Gonzalez.
According to police, Gonzalez alleged the minibike belonged to him, but it was stolen, and after he found it for sale on OfferUp, he decided to ask his friends for “backup” to recover it.
The OfferUp seller reported the meeting was an attempted robbery: A Nissan blocked the parking lot’s exit, four approached the car, and one used his elbow to shatter a car window before the shooting.
The OfferUp seller struck the Nissan, got away, and drove the wounded 16-year-old boy to Homestead Hospital where he was airlifted to Jackson South Medical Center, according to police.
Jackson South Medical Center staff reported the shooter wounded the teenage boy twice on the right leg and once in the abdomen, according to the police report.
Detectives later identified Garcia as Gonzalez’s accomplice and Gomez as the driver of the Nissan. Police officers reported arresting Gomez while he attempted to fix the car’s damage.
Gomez, who has a criminal record, was facing seven new charges. County inmate records show corrections held him without bond on a charge of attempted felony murder.
Records show a judge set his bond at $22,500 for the other six charges of attempted armed robbery, four counts of aggravated assault with a firearm, and attempted tampering with physical evidence.
Court records show Gomez also had a warrant case while out on felony bond for fleeing and eluding police. Prosecutors had filed the pending Miami-Dade case on May 30, 2023.
Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge William Altfield was set to preside over both of Gomez’s cases.
Juvenile records aren’t public, so it was unclear on Thursday what charges Gonzalez and Garcia faced for their alleged role in the shooting.
The teenager who was wounded remained in an induced coma at Jackson South Medical Center, his condition was stable, and doctors expected him to survive, according to police. While in court, on Thursday, his mother said he still had to undergo several surgeries.
Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.