Cops say man charged in Homestead killing tracked down victim after a phone call
Almost four months ago, police say, Esiquio Salinas received a phone call that sealed the fate of a Homestead man named Francisco Ferniza.
Within hours of that Feb. 25 phone call, Salinas tracked down Ferniza and his home and killed him, firing several bullets into his body, police said. Salinas, they said, was under the impression that Ferniza had shot at and unsuccessfully tried to kill him in the past.
On Wednesday, after a four-month search, Miami-Dade Police found Salinas and charged him with Ferniza’s murder. Salinas was identified by a witness in a photo lineup, according to police. Then, police said, he admitted the crime. He was charged with second-degree murder with a weapon and booked into the Metro West Detention Center. He has been denied bond.
“The defendant was actively looking for the victim for the purpose of retaliation,” an officer wrote in Salinas’ arrest form.
Finding Salinas proved difficult for police. On March 9, almost two weeks after Ferniza was killed, lead Miami-Dade homicide detective Dael Vargas asked for the public’s help on a video released on social media sites. Included in the post was video taken from a residence during the shooting that shows a black pickup truck leaving Ferniza’s home after more than a dozen rounds were fired. Vargas said Ferniza was shot “multiple” times after getting out of his vehicle and that he was found on his front lawn.
Ferniza escaped a murder charge himself in 2014, when he was acquitted by a Miami-Dade County jury — despite his brother’s testifying against him. Ferniza’s brother said he was driving a car in 2006 when his brother leaned out of the passenger window and shot a man named Johnny Tijerina in South Miami-Dade.
Despite Ferniza’s acquittal, his brother served probation as an accessory to murder.
This story was originally published June 16, 2022 at 6:47 PM.
