Arrest Made In Gables Halloween Double Shooting
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CORAL GABLES (CBSMiami) - A teen suspected in a violent carjacking and double shooting in Coral Gables on Halloween night has been taken into custody.
Cops say he's a gang member.
"He's a sociopath at 18-years old which is sad. From what I understand, he showed absolutely no remorse on this," said Coral Gables Police Chief Ed Hudak.
Police swarmed a house at NW 18th Street and 24th Avenue in Allapatah and arrested 18-year old Luis Alberto Basalo. They had staked out the small yellow house since the weekend and received a tip that Basalo would be there Friday morning.
Detectives and SWAT team members surrounded the home and then used a percussion device.
"It was like a little boom," said neighbor John Johnson. "That boom was like 20 minutes after they were standing here (near the house) pointing guns at the house."
SWAT members then stormed the house and Basalo gave up without a fight.
"He was cooperative, he did not put up a fight. One of the detectives described him, his demeanor, is the he was succumbed, he just surrendered, " said Coral Gables Officer Lauren Poole.
CBS4 exclusive video shows Basalo being walked into the Coral Gables Police Department.
"I am overjoyed that the intense collaboration between one of my senior violent crimes prosecutor, the Coral Gables Police Department and the Miami Police Department has led to this individual being taken into custody. It is only a matter of luck that these two young victims were not fatally assaulted," said State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle in a statement.
One of the teens who was shot, who did not want his name used, said around 10 p.m. he was parked in a lot next to Sunset Place waiting for his girlfriend to get off work. They had planned to go to a Halloween party. As he was waiting, a girl came up to his car, an Infiniti G35, and asked if he was busy. When he told her he was waiting for his girlfriend, she walked away.
"Two minutes later the guy approached me. I guess it was her boyfriend and he was like, 'Hey man, sorry to bother you, just letting you know I'm here stranded, I'm here with my girlfriend and with my friends. We're stranded. We need to get home."
The teen agreed to give them a ride. The five strangers piled into the back seat. When the driver's 17-year-old girlfriend got in, the teen said he drove to the 400 Block of Rosaro Street where he thought he was going to drop off his passengers. When they arrived, things took a dangerous turn.
"I put the car in park and quickly, he took out a gun and pointed at my head," the teen said. The driver and his girlfriend were then ordered to get out of the car.
They did and when they began to run toward US-1 they heard, and then felt, the gunshots from behind. He was shot in the elbow and the thigh, his girlfriend was shot in the knee. They're both now recovering from surgery.
Officers later found the stolen car and said it offered just enough evidence for detectives to pursue Basalo as their primary suspect in their investigation.
Despite his age, the department is very familiar with Basalo who had an extensive record as a juvenile.
"He is wanted as a person of interest in several other cases we are aware of," said Hudak. "Our communities are a great deal safer now with this violent offender off the street."
CBS4 News has learned that a 17-year old arrested at Jackson Senior High School this week for an alleged aggravated assault on Sunday was among four others involved in the Halloween night shooting and carjacking.
Related: Exclusive: Teen Arrested At School Found 'Packing Heat'
Sources say the 17-year old used the hijacked car from Saturday night to commit the felony assault on Sunday. It's not clear whether the remaining three youths will be arrested.
