MIAMI – Miami Police Chief Manuel A. Morales said Friday morning during a news conference outside of City Hall in Coconut Grove that Cuban reggaetón artist Jose “El Taiger” Carbajal remained hospitalized.
Carbajal, also known as José Manuel Carvajal Zaldívar, had suffered a gunshot wound to the head when police officers found him Thursday morning inside a parked black Mercedes-Benz sports utility vehicle in Miami’s Health District in Allapattah.
Morales said Carbajal’s condition was critical after he underwent surgery.
The SUV was parked along Northwest 17 Street, near Ninth Avenue, just outside the Jackson Behavioral Health Hospital, and near the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Miami Fire Rescue personnel responded and rushed Carvajal, 37, of Havana, to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center.
“Everybody is hurting, lot of friends, he was a great guy,” said Nelson Martinez, the musician’s former manager.
Miami police officers temporarily closed Northwest 17 Street, between Eighth and 10th Avenues. The SUV’s rear trunk door and the back passenger’s side door were open. Two red gas containers were on the SUV’s roof, above the driver’s side back passenger seat.
“They found his body in the trunk of the car and apparently somebody was driving around. They tried, I guess they did try to take him to the hospital, but I guess they didn’t, and they just left him a couple of blocks away from Jackson,” Marcel Reinosa, the musician’s Elusive Media Group manager, told Local 10 News. He later added, “I cannot say, you know, he took his life because he was in the trunk of the car, so where would he have took his life, it would not be in the trunk of the car.”
Carvajal shared with his over one million followers on Instagram that he had celebrated his 37th birthday on Sept. 6, at Añejo Restaurant & Bar, at 9610 SW 8 St., in Miami-Dade County’s Westchester area. He had also shared the mug shot of his arrest earlier this year with fans.
Miami-Dade County court records show Carvajal had two criminal cases prosecutors opened on July 29 and July 30 after Miami-Dade police officers arrested him on July 28. The July 29 felony case was for strongarm robbery and battery and the July 30 misdemeanor case was for resisting an officer. Carvajal pleaded not guilty to both.
Miami-Dade prosecutors closed the felony case on Aug. 19, but Carvajal had been out on a $500 bond for the misdemeanor case since Aug. 23. His next status hearing was set for Oct. 9.
Morales asked anyone with information about the case to call 305-579-6111 or 305-471-8477.
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