Charges Dropped In Deadly Liberty City Shooting, Men Released
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Two men who were charged in a deadly Liberty City shooting were released from police custody on Tuesday after the charges were formally dropped.
Over the weekend, police arrested 21-year-old Yaairnes Rashad Bryant and 19-year-old Anthony Clinch and charged them in a shooting nearly a month ago in which two teens were killed and two others were injured.
On Monday, Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina held a news conference to announce they were still searching for a third suspect, Deondre McDuffy, who they considered to be armed and dangerous.
Hours later, that changed and it was announced that charges would be dropped against Bryant and Clinch and they were suspending their search for McDuffy.
"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."
Charges were formally dropped against Bryant and Clinch Tuesday morning and they were released.
"I don't have anything to say," Clinch said as he left jail.
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 Clinch was at a store in Hialeah at the time of the shooting, shopping with his mother.
Police went to the store and pulled the surveillance footage and realized that Clinch 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 In addition, the warrant for McDuffy was withdrawn.
"We were able to see that Mr. Clinch was not involved in this crime so we're gonna do what's right," Colina said.
Police said they are still investigating who was involved in the shooting.
CBS4's Peter D'Oench spoke exclusively with Shanell Clinch, the cousin of Anthony Clinch.
While she did not want to show all of her face, she wanted to speak out.
"I am very relieved about this arrest. My cousin was exploited all over the news and all over the Internet. World travels very fast. Anything can happen to a person when he is wrongly accused of something he did not do. He is going through a traumatic situation. He is relieved now but he should not have had to go through something like that."
"Of course this upsets me that he was arrested and taken to jail font something he didn't do. He was not anywhere near there," she said. "I think my aunt should sue the city for doing a job that was lacking in what they normally do. And I do not accept the Mayor's apology. It is not enough."
It's not clear why Bryant was released. Our news partner at the Miami Herald says detectives still believe Bryant was involved.
"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.
The city official said 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.
"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," Yaaires Bryant's father told CBS4's Peter D'Oench.
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."
Attorney David Weinstein, a former prosecutor, was surprised it took so long to release Bryant and Clinch.
"They've been in and out a number of times but neither of them had any holds that was pending," Weinstein said. "Without a hold that's pending, they should have been immediately released. If what the bureau of prisons, the department of corrections was trying to verify things out there, that could have been done overnight. They didn't need to take what was essentially 24 hours to release these two individuals."
While the timeline could have been expedited, Weinstein says this still shows that the system worked.
"It would have been far more unfair had they had to sit in jail for three weeks while the police didn't diligently investigate what turned out to be a valid alibi defense," he said.
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.
As police try to sort out what happened, Dixon's aunt told CBS4's Peter D'Oench she has some messages.
"I think every young person should be held accountable for their actions but it can't bring my nephew back," Shirelda Thomas said. "You're killing people's children every day and you are not looking at them families are suffering. When they are killing your children, you are suffering. So I mean stop the violence. Love on one another. God day love."
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.
