A gang sign, then gunfire from ‘Woo’ and ‘Bob’ on MLK Day, police say
Eight people were shot in a park after the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade because “Bob” was peeved that “Deucy” threw up a gang sign and “Woo” retaliated by drawing a weapon, police say.
By the time “Bob” and “Woo” were retreating and firing into a crowd of hundreds of people there enjoying the food and music, a full-fledged battle had broken out between the 12th Court Cowboys and the 13th Avenue Gang, according to an arrest warrant obtained by Miami-Dade police.
The Jan. 16 shooting at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park left five teens and children and three adults with bullet wounds and caused a panic and stampede in which dozens of others received scrapes and bruises as they dove for cover while trying to avoid the gunfire.
The warrant led to the arrests Tuesday of Gerrell “Woo” Brownlee, 18, and Robert “Bob” Britt, 17. Both were charged with attempted second-degree murder and other crimes. Britt was taken to the Miami-Dade Juvenile Assessment Center. Brownlee was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. His bond was set at $1 million.
The seven-page warrant for Brownlee’s arrest, signed off by Circuit Court Judge Alberto Milian at the request of Miami-Dade Detective Angelica Dolan, shows how the smallest slight between rival gangs escalated to almost deadly consequences.
The warrant says Miami-Dade police interviewed witnesses who laid out the events that led to the shooting and identified the suspected shooters.
The fight erupted just before 4 p.m. on Jan. 16 near the basketball courts at the park at 6100 NW 32nd Ct., where hundreds of people had gathered after the MLK parade for what has become an annual event at the park named for the civil rights icon.
According to the warrant, “Deucy,” a member of the 13th Avenue Gang, threw up some sort of gang sign that offended Britt, who belongs to the 12th Court Cowboys. That’s when Britt took a swing at “EJ,” a member of the 13th Avenue Gang along with Brownlee. At some point, the warrant says, Brownlee threw Britt to the ground.
That’s when Britt grabbed his gun and Brownlee pulled a gun from his waistband, the arrest warrant says. Britt then took off toward Northwest 32nd Court firing away. Brownlee, the report says, did the same while fleeing toward Northwest 32nd Avenue. Police found two sets of .45-caliber bullets that they say came from two different weapons.
Three days later, police said, Brownlee and Britt were identified through a photo lineup. They were arrested and jailed on Tuesday.
This story was originally published January 25, 2017 at 5:42 PM with the headline "A gang sign, then gunfire from ‘Woo’ and ‘Bob’ on MLK Day, police say."