THE GOULDS, Fla. – This October was bloody in Cutler Bay. After the shooting injured a teenage boy at the Cutler Manor Apartments, another shooting injured two and terrified the kids of the Cutler Bay Vipers who were playing nearby at Franjo Park.
The Perrine Baseball and Softball Association, a softball club in Cutler Bay, started a fundraiser to hire security at the park. Cutler Bay contracts the Miami-Dade Police Department. Alexis Hendrikse, a member of the PBSA board of directors, was anguished when the town said a police presence at the park was only available on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Alexis Hendrikse, a member of the PBSA board of directors, worries that the kids train six days a week during the 10-month season and they just can’t afford the $100,000 to provide security. The hope was that MDPD could step in. The shooting was very traumatic.
“During a 9U baseball game, gunshots rang out at the bottom of the 5th inning and forever altered the lives of the players, coaches, umpires, staff, friends, and family. For almost 2 minutes, our baseball family was exposed to a shooting 100 feet from the baseball park entrance that left 150 bullet casings on the ground,” Hendrikse wrote on a GoFundMe page.
Their fear was familiar to Romainia Dukes. She thinks about her son De’Michael Dukes every day. He was 18 years old when a stray bullet struck him and he died in her arms. The tragedy was on July 21, 2014, and the case remains unsolved over a decade later.
Dukes, born in the Goulds community, lives in West Perrine. She knew then she wasn’t alone in her grief, so she founded Mothers Fighting For Justice, a nonprofit organization advocating for victims’ families and their communities.
Dukes holds the Walk For Justice on the anniversary of her son’s death and she attended a meeting on Friday at a park in the Goulds to talk about the shootings. She has been urging others to vote. Elections are coming up in 10 days and there is a contentious Miami-Dade Sheriff’s race.
Stephanie Daniels, the MDPD director, was also at the meeting. She had served as the interim police director since June 2023 when she was sworn in in January. Daniels said she wants to focus on crime prevention programs and help for at-risk children.
According to MDPD, violent crimes from January to Oct. 13 are down by about 25.8%, and during the same period last year, there were 57 homicides — and this year there were 49. Many of these victims were fatally shot in the Goulds.
Edward Roberts was the victim of a drive-by shooting in January. Antwon Lavont Ingraham, known as DJ Sleepy Brown was fatally shot in April. There was a fatal shooting in May at West Old Cutler Road and Southwest 115 Avenue. James Darnell Jerome Dukes died after a shooting in August outside of his home. He was 29.
“The Lord knows I am doing everything I can right now to keep my son’s children alive,” Deborah Willis, a concerned grandmother, said during the meeting with Daniels Friday in the Goulds.
Meanwhile, Cutler Bay Mayor Tim Meerbott released a statement on YouTube saying he was grateful for the support from Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and MDPD to keep Franjo Park safe and solve the crime, which he described as an anomaly.
“She has had three of her chiefs down. I understand they have over 20 people working on this right now. Trying to find out who these perpetrators are and bringing them to justice to assure that this never happens again,” Meerbott said about the shooting investigation, adding that they were going to increase security at the park.
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