HOMESTEAD, Fla. – A suspect has been arrested in connection with a shooting that police said left a man dead and a 16-year-old girl wounded in Homestead, authorities confirmed Thursday.
According to Miami-Dade police, officers from the Homestead Police Department responded to reports of a shooting along the 600 block of Southwest Eighth Street just before 9 p.m. Monday.
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Local 10 News obtained drone video from HomesteadCrimes, when officers arrived at the scene and said they found a man, identified as 23-year-old Brendan Roger Francois, who had been shot dead, as well as a 16-year-old girl who was grazed by a bullet on her left wrist.
According to investigators, a witness provided a statement about the events on Monday.
The witness said he was sitting behind a home near the 1600 block of Northwest Sixth Avenue in Florida City, located just south of where the shooting occurred.
He observed Francois and the girl walking west on West Lucy Street when he noticed a man, who police identified Thursday as 27-year-old Louis Edward Harris Jr., following them quickly, according to an arrest report.
Authorities said Harris caught up to the victims and shouted, “That’s my girl,” before firing a single gunshot at Francois.
Investigators confirmed that Francois was pronounced dead at the scene.
Detectives said the teenage girl and video surveillance from multiple locations in the area helped identify Harris as the shooter.
Police said Harris was arrested on Wednesday and transported to the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Homicide Bureau.
After being read his Miranda rights, investigators said Harris waived them and admitted to his involvement in the homicide, but his confession was redacted in the publicly released report.
Shortly after informing Harris of his charges, detectives said he became agitated in a restroom, banging his head on a partition, spitting on investigators, and acting erratically.
He was returned to the interview room, where he caused further damage, kicking walls and doors, throwing a chair, and urinating on the wall, the report stated.
Francois’ mother, Yvelouse Chery, said her son deserved so much better, and she saw him shortly before the shooting happened. She told Local 10 News that Francois was walking to the house of a girl she never met before on the day he was killed.
Jail records show Harris is facing one count each of second-degree murder with a weapon and criminal mischief.
As of Thursday, he is being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where his bond was listed as “to be set.”