Just after 10 this morning, a 28-year-old Cuban immigrant named Yankier Crespo got into a fight with another man riding in his black Camry. The yelling turned into a fistfight, and the men spilled out onto SW 57th Ave.
What happened next, police say, is the just latest incident in one of Miami's worst weeks of gun crimes this year. Crespo allegedly grabbed a handgun and pumped bullets into the unnamed victim's neck, stomach, shoulder and side before running off. It's at least the third serious shooting Miami cops have responded to since Thursday.
As the Herald reported this morning, Miami police are already scrambling to connect the dots on two shooting deaths in Liberty City starting last week, when 17-year-old Lexsis Ray was gunned down. Yesterday, her 17-year-old cousin, James Taylor, was shot in the head in the Liberty Square projects.
Those deaths, police say, are connected to a summer-long feud in Liberty City that's escalated into four shootings.
Today's crime seems more like a random scuffle that escalated into near-deadly violence. Crespo, a heavyset, 5'6" man who lives in El Portal, has only a minor criminal record for marijuana possession, according to Riptide's records search.
A Miami-Dade cop heard shots and found Crespo's victim lying on the ground and the gunman running away. The officer quickly subdued him, says Officer Kenia Reyes, a Miami PD spokeswoman.The shooting victim is in "extremely critical" condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital, Reyes says. Crespo faces one charge of attempted second degree murder.
Update: Police this morning identified the shooting victim as 39-year-old Odin Hernandez. Hernandez died of his injuries at Jackson Memorial yesterday afternoon, and Crespo now faces charges of second degree murder.
