BB gun fire that broke truck window led to shooting death of an innocent mom, cops say

Alicia Roundtree was on her way back from the supermarket when she was killed by a stray bullet fired from a man bent on revenge — but not against her. His truck, Miami Gardens police said on Wednesday, had been struck with a BB gun pellet.

Roundtree, a 43-year-old mother of three whose son was set to graduate from college in a few days, was driving home last month on Northwest 183rd Street after grabbing an early edition of the Sunday newspaper for its food coupons. She was shot in the neck by a stray bullet that police say was fired from a parking lot.

Her black Honda Pilot careened for three blocks before crashing in an intersection. By the time Miami-Dade Fire Rescue arrived, Roundtree was dead.

Police say that Donald Young, 52, became so incensed after someone struck his truck with a pellet from a BB gun that he chased two cars into the parking lot of the main public library in Miami Gardens and fired several rounds into the vehicles. None of the seven occupants in the two cars was injured.

Tuesday afternoon, after an intense investigation and media campaign, Young turned himself into police. He was charged with one count of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder, transported to the Turner Guilford Knight correctional center and denied bond.

The wanton Dec. 9 gunfire that took Roundtree’s life rattled nerves in a community already plagued by gunfire, sparking fears of a potential sniper. Police quickly rejected that concern. But it took six weeks before Roundtree’s alleged shooter was captured.

According to police and witness statements, Young was towing a boat behind his Chevrolet Avalanche near Northwest 22nd Avenue and 175th Street when someone fired a BB gun that damaged his passenger window. He quickly turned around and began chasing a red Honda and a silver Nissan.

Once the vehicles reached the Miami-Dade Public Library at 2455 NW 183rd St., Young cornered the vehicles in the parking lot, took out a .40 caliber weapon, according to police, and opened fire. The drivers of the two cars struck by gunfire fled. One of the shots struck Roundtree as she was driving on the street in front of the library.

Roundtree was returning home from Publix just before 8 p.m. on a Saturday night when she was killed. Her death stunned a close-knit family who begged the public for help in solving the crime.

The day before Roundtree’s son, Isaiah Raphael, 20, was set to graduate from Broward College, he called her the greatest woman he had ever known.

“Whoever did this to my mother, they don’t know what they truly took from me,” he said. “They took the only woman who ever showed me that I could truly be someone. They took my number one fan.”

This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 2:11 PM with the headline "BB gun fire that broke truck window led to shooting death of an innocent mom, cops say."