Police Asking For Help In Solving Teen Murders
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - On the night a 15-year old was killed and four others were injured in a shooting at a northwest Miami-Dade apartment complex, police say another another teen was shot and killed just blocks away.
Miami-Dade Police said they are trying see if the crimes are connected and they are passing out flyers with the victim's photograph asking for the public's help.
Family members told CBS4's Peter D'Oench they are grief stricken.
"Sadly, my grandson will be missed. He was a great grandson. He didn't deserve this," said the grandmother of 16-year-old Ralph Hemingway, a student at Jan Mann Opportunity School who was shot and killed around 10:30 p.m. Monday in a drive-by while he was outside his family's home in the area of N.W. 8th Ave. and 77th St.
The grandmother did not want to give her name or talk about the crime but she told D'Oench, "We were very close. We were very close. He had a great personality and he was FCAT smart. He was smart. He wanted to be a professional football player. That's what he wanted, to be a professional football player."
Police said he was shot by someone who was inside a blue or green car.
Neighbors said they heard as many as four shots. The bullets also shattered the windows of a Ford station wagon that is parked outside the family's home.
It happened less than 90 minutes after another homicide.
Monday, around 9 p.m., a man with an assault rifle opened fired on a group of men sitting at a table in front of an apartment building on West 17th Avenue and NW 79th Street.
Joewuan Coles was killed and four of the men were injured.
Police say it was 10:30 p.m. when Hemingway was standing outside his family's home when he was shot. He died on the scene.
Detectives are looking at similarities in these cases.
"We're still looking into whether these two homicides are connected. That's why we really need help from the community in trying to get this man or men off the street," said Miami-Dade police spokeswoman Robin Pinkard. "Our detectives are looking into what caused this and they are actively searching for a suspect in this incident and need that help from the community."
Pinkard said Hemingway was shot with a handgun, not an assault rifle.
There is a reward of up to $3,000 in each of the case for information which leads to an arrest. Anyone with information on the shootings is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS.
