A Cutler Bay 18-year-old has been charged with the murder of a 17-year-old Miami girl
An 18-year-old has been charged with second-degree murder after a Miami teenage girl was found shot to death in a parking lot Tuesday night — and it’s not the first time he’s been charged in a shooting.
Tanecia McElliott, also called “TaeTae,” was 17 years old. A GoFundMe has been set up for Tanecia’s funeral expenses.
Cutler Bay’s Diamante Jean-Philippe is being held with no bond. Jean-Philippe had been out on bond after a January arrest for carrying a concealed firearm.
Miami-Dade police say a ShotSpotter alert about eight gunshots brought them to 7701 NW 16th Ave. A block south, in a parking lot, the arrest report says, they found Tanecia, who had been shot several times.
The report says one witness heard Jean-Philippe and Tanecia arguing before hearing the gunshots. Then, the witness said Jean-Philippe came around the building with a firearm, went into a nearby abandoned building and came out without that firearm. He then, the witness said, tried to go into the witness’ house, claiming Tanecia’s brothers were going to kill him because he’d done something to Tanecia.
The witness said Jean-Philippe was refused sanctuary and he said he’d turn himself in to police. Police said they found an AR-15 in the abandoned house with cartridges matching the casings found around Tanecia.
What happened to the attempted murder charge
According to a closeout memo from assistant state attorney Alexandria Lewis, on May 1, 2020, Miami-Dade police took a statement from a Perrine resident who had been shot in the shoulder at his home. He told police 10 guys walked up to his house, the one he knew from the neighborhood as “Montay” shot him and everybody ran.
He told police he and “Montay” were in rival gangs and picked Jean-Philippe out of a photo lineup as the shooter. Police found 11 casings and a pair of Nike slides.
Jean-Philippe, then 16, denied having anything to do with the shooting, but was charged as an adult with attempted premeditated murder. Those charges were dropped in August 2021.
“In an unfortunate turn of events and unrelated to this case, the victim has since passed away,” the closeout memo stated. “This was confirmed by his mother.”
Without the victim’s testimony, nothing directly tied Jean-Philippe to the shooting. He wasn’t arrested with a gun, so the casings meant nothing, and even if his DNA was in the Nike slides, it only placed him at the scene with nine other people.
This story was originally published October 20, 2022 at 10:53 AM.
