Man accused of Miami teen’s death didn’t pull the trigger. State says it doesn’t matter
Rising from his seat on a witness stand Tuesday, Sergio Berben slightly elevated his voice and released years of frustration as he pointed to a man across the courtroom who he said was responsible for the shooting death of his girlfriend.
“Everything happened very quickly,” Berben said. “But I am 1,000 percent certain, that’s the guy.”
Berben was pointing at George Oshane Walton, 23, who state prosecutors say didn’t fire the bullet that killed high school student Andrea Camps Lacayo, an 18-year-old senior at Terra Environmental Research Institute in April of 2020. But he’s accused of participating in the botched robbery of three pair of rare and expensive sneakers that led to her shooting death in the passenger seat of Berben’s Jeep Wrangler.
On her lap when she was killed were two brand new pair of Addidas Yeezy sneakers, a pricey creation between the shoe giant and music superstar Kanye West that sell for $235 in retail stores — but much more on the re-sale market. Lacayo was with Berben, her boyfriend of two years, at the agreed-upon sale location when she was killed and Berben was injured, a bullet grazing his left upper arm.
Sneaker deal
In the opening day of the trial on Tuesday and under questioning from Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Sara Imm, Berben testified that an old friend he had contacted on Instagram vouched for the men charged with shooting his girlfriend. He said he agreed to sell them three pair of the sneakers for $935 — two were size 9, the other 9 1/2.
Walton, who has been charged with single counts of first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder and attempted robbery with a deadly weapon, is facing a life sentence. Co-conspirator Adrian Cosby, 23, who prosecutors say fired the fatal shot that killed Lacayo, is facing the same charges. His trial is set for April.
Prosecutors paint the shooting death as the horrifying result of a sale-gone-wrong for a couple of high school kids trying to make some money while wading through the early stages of the COVID pandemic. Walton’s defense attorney doesn’t deny his client was there. But he says he’s not guilty because there was no attempted robbery. All three pair of shoes were in Berben’s Jeep when police and paramedics arrived.
In opening statements Tuesday, Assistant State Attorney Khalil Quinan told jurors that whether Walton fired the weapon or not was inconsequential.
“The hand of one is the hand of all,” he said. “The defendants failed in their attempted robbery. They only succeeded in taking the life of Andrea Camps Lacayo.”
Under Florida law, if someone is killed during the commission of a crime, it doesn’t matter who pulled the trigger. Anyone proved to be a participant can be charged with the murder.
Defense attorney Alan Greenstein laid Lacayo’s murder on Cosby, saying he “should pay the price.” But his client Walton, the attorney said, “is not responsible for the actions of Adrian Cosby.”
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According to witness accounts, police and prosecutors, Berben, a proficient Instagram user in high school who said he even dabbled in stock trades, advertised the resale of Yezzy’s on an Instagram page he created called kickzone305. After being contacted, he said he worked out a price and a location to meet. It wasn’t clear at trial who he was communicating with.
Berben said he wanted to head over to a home in a gated community at 27052 SW 121st Ct., right away. But when the person he was negotiating with said he was tied up, Berben picked up Lacayo instead and they headed out to breakfast. The sneakers were in his Jeep.
That plan was altered when Berben was contacted as the couple headed to breakfast. Berben told Imm he called a number his contact left for him just before arriving and was told to meet down the street. He drove there and parked his Jeep with the driver’s side to the curb and left it in drive.
Walton, he said, was the first to show up, making his way to the vehicle through a grassy area between two homes. Berben told police and testified that they small-talked about the sneakers for a “couple of minutes” before Walton asked if he had a cash app so the money could be transferred. As Walton toyed with his phone, Berben said he noticed another person walking on the sidewalk behind him.
Violent encounter
That’s when Berben and prosecutors contend, Cosby, who was on the sidewalk, “took out a gun from his jacket and shot” into the Jeep. Berben told jurors he he raced off before realizing they’d both been hit. A short while later outside the complex on a turnpike exit ramp on Southwest 112th Street, Berben pulled over and began applying cloth to his girlfriend’s wound and pouring water on her face, while calling 911.
Berben was shot on the left upper shoulder. Lacayo’s fatal shot was to her stomach.
911 call in court
With friends and family of Berben in the courtroom gallery, Imm played the 911 call he made to a police dispatcher, who calmly told him to remain on the line until help arrived and how to try and aide Lacayo.
“She got shot through the stomach,” he told the operator. And I got shot “on my arm, but I’m fine.”
After the operator told Berben to press a towel directly on the wound, he says Lacayo is still awake.
“She just threw up. I just put pressure on the wound. Please, please, I need your help. She’s not awake anymore,” Berben says.
Then the operator asks one final time if she’s responding. When Berben says “no,” he’s asked if she’s breathing.
“Yes,” he says quietly. “She’s shaking though.”
The conversation ended at 1:33 p.m., when paramedics arrived. Berben and Lacayo were taken to Jackson South Medical Center. Berben was wrapped up and given an IV. Lacayo couldn’t be revived and was pronounced dead.
