Police identify 2-year-old boy who was hit by bullet while community looks for killer

Hours after a bullet took the life of a 2-year-old boy who sat with his mother in the courtyard of a South Miami-Dade apartment complex, community leaders and residents set a neighborhood gathering to search for the killer.

The community meeting at noon Saturday at Goulds Park is across the street from the Arthur Mays Villas public housing complex where Miami-Dade police say the shooting occurred at 6:19 p.m. Friday.

A single bullet casing was found in the parking lot across from the courtyard where the child was sitting with his mother, according to sources. The incident happened near Southwest 215th Street and 114th Court, blocks away from U.S. 1 and Southland Mall, bustling with customers a little more than a week before Christmas.

After the shooting police looked into the possibility of a domestic squabble within the child’s family, stressing it was only one of many theories investigators are exploring according to someone with knowledge of the shooting, sources told the Miami Herald on Saturday.

When the police arrived Friday evening, they found the unidentified 2-year-old lying on the ground with a gunshot wound. He was airlifted to Kendall Regional Medical Center, where he later died, police said. Authorities did not release the family’s name.

The killing outraged a community and police, including Miami-Dade Public Schools’ Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who went on Twitter to say, “Tonight, a family was robbed of the chance to ever hold their baby again because of someone’s blatant disregard for human life. Any child falling victim to gun violence is a tragedy. But a toddler? When does it stop?”

“My heart aches as once again a small child has died as a result of a shooting,” tweeted Juan Perez, director of the Miami-Dade Police Department.

Sgt. Carlos Rosario of the Miami-Dade Police Department added,“Once again, we find ourselves mourning the death of a child.”

This is the second stray bullet that has claimed a life in less than a week. On Saturday night, 43-year-old Alicia Roundtree was driving home from a Miami Gardens Publix when she was hit by gunfire in what police are calling a random shooting. The shooter has yet to be identified.

In the past few years, a number of young children have been killed in Miami-Dade by stray bullets.

Last year, 6-year-old King Carter, a boy who loved football and Ninja Turtles, got caught in crossfire while playing in front of his Northwest Miami-Dade apartment. He had gone outside to buy candy.

Not long after, 8-year-old Jada Page was shot in the head in her front yard during a drive-by shooting after her first week of fourth grade. She and her dad were about to go to the movies.

In 2015, a duel between teenagers killed Marlon Eason, with gunfire hitting the 10-year-old as he retrieved a basketball in front of his Overtown home.

Over the past 11 years, more than 300 children and teens have been killed by guns in Miami-Dade County. Some deaths were the result of domestic arguments. Other children were caught in the crossfire of gun battles between teens or gangs. In rarer instances, children playing with a gun accidentally pulled the trigger.

Residents of the Arthur Mays complex, an area commonly referred to as “Chocolate City” by the community, have struggled for years with gun violence, crime and murder. Surveillance videos, installed in 2011, have often proved ineffective due to theft and sabotage. In 2008, Miami-Dade police and residents formed Project RENEW — Resident Empowering Neighborhood Enforcement Walk — to inform Mays’ residents about crime and crime stopping methods, along with putting a face to the local police force.

First opened in 1976, the Arthur Mays housing community, at 11341 SW 216th St., was named after a prominent black South Miami-Dade landowner who donated land for a school.

Miami Herald reporter Monique O. Madan contributed to this story.

This story was originally published December 16, 2017 at 2:26 PM with the headline "Police identify 2-year-old boy who was hit by bullet while community looks for killer."