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Search For Liberty City Murder Suspect Suspended, Two Others Will Be Released

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Miami police have suspended the search for a man originally identified as a third suspect wanted in connection with a fatal shooting in Liberty City that left two teenagers dead and two others victims injured nearly a month ago.

Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina held a news conference Monday stating Deondre McDuffy was armed and dangerous and he was the third suspect wanted for the crime. However, several hours after that news conference, a City of Miami official tells CBS4 News that the search for McDuffy is being suspended.

In addition, two suspects who were arrested over the weekend, 21-year-old Yaairnes Rashad Bryant and 19-year-old Anthony Clinch, are going to be released from custody.

"I'm not gonna have a scenario where I have someone potentially sitting in jail who didn't commit a crime," Colina said. "That's not the way that we function here so I'm not gonna allow that. We have to do what's proper."

The two are expected to be freed as soon as Tuesday.

They must go before a judge and formally have the murder charges dropped before they can be released from custody.

A law enforcement source familiar with the investigation tells CBS4 News that the arrests were based on one of the witnesses positively identifying the two men. After the two men were arrested, police were provided an alibi for one of the men. The alibi was that he was at a store at the time of the shooting.

Monday, the source said, police went to the store and pulled the surveillance footage and realized that one of the men they arrested had in fact been in the store at the time of the shooting. As a result of that information, the decision was made to drop the charges against both men and have them released from jail. In addition, they have also withdrawn the warrant for the third man, Deondre McDuffy.

Police said they are still investigating who was involved in the shooting.

"When we arrested them we were 150 percent sure we had the right guys, now we can't say that," one source told CBS4 News.

Bryan and Clinch had been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder after appearing before a judge over the weekend.

The city official say they are now "going back to the drawing board."

"It's not right to the victims, and it's not right for the people we're pursuing," Colina said.

City of Miami Police released a statement late Monday regarding the changes.

 

CBS4's Peter D'Oench spoke to the father of Yaaires Bryant.

"My son is innocent. I will be glad when he gets his things together. My heart goes out to the parents. But he is innocent," said his father.

When asked why he was so convinced his son is innocent, he replied, "He is. He was not raised up like that. And that's all I have to say."

The arrests were originally made in the shooting deaths of 17-year-old Kimson Green and 18-year-old Rickey Dixon.

Green was a member of the National Honor Society at Northwestern Senior High school, and Dixon was a former student there.

Green, Dixon and two others were together on the lawn outside a Liberty Square apartment when they were struck with gunfire in April. No motive was immediately clear but Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho says authorities believe the quadruple shooting is gang related.

 

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