He was playing with a stolen gun and shot a girl in the head, police say. Now, he’s charged.
A Miami teen, who police said was begged by friends to stop playing with a gun inside his apartment, was arrested Wednesday for pointing it at a 15-year-old girl, pulling the trigger and killing her.
Thalys Oliveira, 17, told police he was “playing” with the gun in his apartment early Tuesday morning, when he put his finger on the trigger “and seen a flash.” The bullet struck Miami Beach Senior High student Arya Gray in the head.
Miami Fire Rescue, whose firehouse is only a few feet from Oliveira’s apartment at 7825 NE 10th Ave. rushed the mortally wounded teen to Jackson Memorial Hospital in critical condition. But the wound was too severe and doctors couldn’t save her. Her family said she died a few hours later.
Oliveira was charged with manslaughter with a deadly weapon. Police later said the gun was reported stolen from Homestead. On Wednesday, Oliveira was in court and officials said they intended to charge him as an adult, according to Miami Herald news partner CBS4
Arya, whose name was not on Oliveira’s arrest affidavit, was identified by family members. Her mother, Maria Elena Gray, said in a Facebook post: “I’m devastated and I don’t know how to pull it together for my other two kids...Save me God.”
On Wednesday, Gray thanked her friends and family for the outpouring of love and support.
“My baby girl is smiling in heaven for all the love she is getting!” she said in a Facebook post. “I am on thin thread, but I have to be there for my two other babies. Arya wants that!! I miss her so much but all your word[s] have kept me safe and at peace!!”
Nelly Rastelli, Arya’s aunt, tearfully told CBS4 her niece was “beautiful and lovable.”
“This is awful. How did this happen? A 17-year-old boy with a loaded gun and she was shot right here in the head and he said he was playing,” she told the station. “That’s not fair. She was only 15 years old.”
Police officers who spoke to three witnesses who were in the apartment in Miami’s Shorecrest neighborhood were told that Oliveira was “recklessly brandishing” a black gun inside his home. The incident happened around 2:20 a.m. Tuesday, according to police.
Police, questioned after the arrest affidavit was made available, said the gun used by Oliveira had been reported stolen.
According to police, Oliveira had been toying with the weapon earlier and two witnesses told him to put the gun away, which he eventually did. A short while later, he returned with the gun and shot Arya, the witnesses and police said.
Bianka Krausch, a friend of the Gray family, set up a GoFundMe to raise $25,000 to cover funeral and memorial costs. It has raised more than $22,000 by 508 donors.
This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 3:56 PM.
%20Cropped%20(2).jpg)