CBS4 Exclusive: Father Of Accused Teen Gunman In Killing Of SW Miami Boy Speaks Out
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – For the first time we are hearing from the father of a 17-year-old youngster who police say along with a friend shot and killed a 15-year-old, 9th grader at a Halloween pool party last weekend in Southwest Miami-Dade.
In an exclusive interview with CBS4's Peter D'Oench, Braulio Cao said he has been deeply troubled and has been unable to sleep since his 17-year-old son Josue was charged in the death of 15-year-old Angel Cueli at a home late last Saturday night at S.W. 202nd Street And 132ND Avenue.
"You can not feel how I am feeling," said Cao. "I feel like I lost two kids because I feel like the other kid was mine. Mostly parents do not have control of their kids because they are at work and the kids are in school and they never know where they are or what they are doing. Oh man, I don't sleep good after this. And we tried everything to be good to our kid."
"I have five children," he said. "I just don't know. I don't feel good about this. I recommend that parents do the same things that we did but we couldn't control that. We couldn't control that."
"He has been in drug court for 27 months," he said. "Mostly there are a lot of kids on drugs. I don't know why. I mean they go to school to learn and then there is another things like that."
Cao appeared in juvenile court in Miami Thursday morning where his mother Vivian urged that her son be locked up because he needed help with his drug addiction. She said the family had been trying for three years to have Cao plead in a facility where he could be seen by a psychiatrist and treated for his drug addiction.
Two years ago Cao reportedly attacked his mother with a broom and punched her and knocked her on to the ground and kicked her. Police say Cao tampered with his ankle monitor before the shooting.
Cao told D'Oench that he and his wife had attempted to steer their son away from troubled youngsters.
"Every day I gave him advice that if you don't stay away from some kids, you got two ways: the cemetery or jail. There is a point at which you can't control them. He's not a kid like this. He is a kid like this tall. He says he is going and you can not stop him."
The state announced that it could decided before Cao's next hearing on November 12th that it will charge him as an adult. He's being held in secure detention until that hearing.
"Now all we can do is wait," said his father. "We can do nothing but wait and see what happens with the court. It is their decision and therein lies the problem. We can only wait."
Miami-Dade Police say Cao and 18-year-old Matthew Hernandez show and killed Cueli at the party that had rival gang members after 18-year-old Marcos Gonzalez drove them there. Police say Hernandez has confessed.
Miami-Dade Police say Cueli was not the intended target. His parents say he was an honors student at Coral Park Senior High School and dreamed of becoming an architect.
18-year-old Matthew Hernandez is also accused of being a shooter. He is charged with 2nd-degree murder, as is 18-year-old Marcos Gonzalez, who detectives say was the driver of the getaway car.
Police say Hernandez has confessed. He and Gonzalez are being held without bond.
