Arrest made in the murder of Miss Liz, the Liberty City grandmother shot outside her home
On Friday night, State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle and Miami Police Chief Manuel A. Morales announced the arrest of 24-year-old James Calvin Velazquez in relation to the homicide of 85-year-old Elizabeth Level.
One day shy of a month ago, the 85-year-old Liberty City grandmother affectionately known as “Miss Liz” was shot and killed for simply being in the proverbial wrong place at the wrong time.
Elizabeth Level had strolled outside her door with a can of beer and her walker in hand to bid farewell to the evening sun and share a drink and conversation with her neighbor.
Then there was gunfire.
READ MORE: Tears for beloved ‘Miss Liz,’ 85. Shot dead, holding her walker, in her Liberty City yard
Level died of a gunshot wound to the head, police said, while she sat on a chair outside her Liberty City home on Sept. 9.
Velazquez is charged with one count of first degree murder.
Investigators believe that Velazquez is alleged to be a member of a rival gang.
“Our elderly residents should never have to fear anything while sitting peacefully on their own front porch,” Rundle said in a statement. “Yet, this is exactly the type of peace that gun-toting gang members wish to steal from the residents of our community. No member of Miami-Dade’s law enforcement community will let that happen,” she said and then commended Miami police for their determined investigative work that led to Velazquez’s arrest.
Police expect to make more arrests in the case.
Police were able to secure Velazquez’s arrest via information gleaned from a City of Miami Police Department Real Time Crime Center trailer camera that had earlier been placed directly across the street from Level’s nearly century-old house because there had been previous shootings occurring at the address, officers said.
Level’s family members have said Miss Liz had insisted that such a video surveillance setup be installed outside her small blue ranch-style home she had lived in for some 50 years, since 1971, to monitor activity because of those earlier shootings.
Last month, family members said the shooter was in a car on Northwest 10th Avenue and 52nd Street, just east of Level’s home, when he shot Level who, they felt, was the only visible target because others nearby were standing or seated behind a hedge and couldn’t initially be seen from the street corner. The video showed a bullet hitting a car next to Level. She was struck. Two men ran past her and seemed to return fire.
“The Miami Police Department is committed to seeking justice for all crime victims in the City of Miami, particularly for the most vulnerable among us,” Chief Morales said in a statement.
“Elizabeth Level was an elderly resident of our City who deserved to live her golden years in peace. Instead, her life was abruptly and violently ended by a bullet intended for someone else,” Morales said. “The arrest of James Velazquez for the murder of Ms. Level is only the first of several expected additional arrests. The men and the women of the Miami Police Department will ensure that all those involved in this heinous crime are brought to justice.”
Miami Herald staff writer Charles Rabin contributed to this report.
This story was originally published October 8, 2022 at 9:12 AM.
