Triple Weekend Shootings Rattle Overtown and Liberty City, Killing Two

For Miami cops, Saturday was one of those nights. By 8:15 p.m., detectives had already left one shooting in Overtown to rush to another in Liberty City, where they found a 15-year-old boy dead in an empty field. As they combed the area for evidence, more gunshots rattled the night. Just seven blocks away, they found a man dying of gunshot wounds. 

By the time the sun rose on Sunday, the casualty list was dire: two dead, one critically wounded, and no clear answers about whether the shootings were connected or simply the remnants of another bloody night in the Magic City.

"We're still waiting for news from the detectives," says Officer Ernest Lawrence, a Miami Police Department spokesperson.

The violent night began just before 8 p.m. in Overtown, where a man was shot multiple times in a small bungalow at 1937 NW Second Ct. As of last night, the man was in critical but stable condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital. (Lawrence says police are not yet identifying the man.)

Only 15 minutes later, police were called to Liberty City. Near NW Ninth Avenue and 69th Street, cops found 15-year-old Alder Hill dead in a field. Two assailants were seen fleeing the scene, MPD says.

"While members of the Miami Police Department worked the crime scene... they heard neighboring gunshots," Officer Kenia Fallat says in a department release about the shootings.

Police rushed to the 700 block of NW 65th Street. Jaquan Leonard, 21 years old, was found dead near the corner from multiple gunshots.

Detectives are still trying to figure out whether there's any common thread that ties the incidents. Anyone with information should call 305-471- TIPS (8477).