Miami-Dade police arrest 3 teens in gang-related expressway shooting after graduation party attack

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Three teens were arrested in Miami-Dade on Monday in connection to a gang-fueled expressway shooting that happened as vehicles were fleeing the scene of a graduation party that had erupted in gunfire. 

Yahtayvius McCutcheon, 17, Quantayvius McCutcheon, 19, and Keyshad Richardson, 19, are each charged with attempted murder with a deadly weapon. The charges come after investigators says the three teens then followed those leaving the venue of a graduation party onto the expressway and opened fire. 

Chaos first broke out around 2 a.m. Sunday when investigators say that one or more vehicles pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall as people were leaving the party hosted at the Hookah Inn near the intersection of Southwest 104th Street and 109th Court, and someone inside a vehicle began firing. A Florida corrections officer, who authorities believe was an innocent bystander, was fatally shot and later died at the hospital.

Two men sped off and soon crashed into a wall at Miami-Dade College’s Kendall Campus. Both were found dead inside the vehicle – but it’s unclear how they died. A weapon was also found inside, Miami-Dade Police public information officer Angel Rodriguez confirmed to Fox News. 

MIAMI-DADE UNVEILS PLAN TO CRACK DOWN ON ‘BRUTAL KILLINGS’: ‘NOT ON OUR WATCH’ 

At least five others were wounded by gunfire at the hookah bar. But before that shooting unfolded, the McCutcheon brothers and Richardson were believed to have remained outside the venue in a red Chevrolet Malibu casing the area "for a significant amount of time," according to the Miami Herald, which cited an arrest report. A source familiar with the investigation said that the teens are believed to have left before the gunfire broke out outside the hookah bar.

Once the shooting began, the trio recognized a gray Nissan Altima leaving the venue and "willfully and purposefully pursued" it southbound on the Florida Turnpike, according to the arrest report. 

They drove next to the victims' vehicle while approaching the SW 312 Street exit and "fired several shots without provocation," the Miami-Dade Police Department said in a statement. The suspects soon peeled off, and the victim, who was behind the wheel and was struck in the lower extremity, drove to Homestead Hospital. He was late transferred to Jackson South Medical Center in stable condition. 

A passenger inside the vehicle was not injured. 

"Our community was again painfully struck by gun violence overnight," Alfredo "Freddy" Ramirez III, director of the Miami-Dade Police Department, tweeted. "No one is immune, this shooting took the life of a correctional officer. We all have the responsibility to report these killers. My deepest condolences to those affected by this intentional act of violence."

"Every weekend, it's the same thing. We have to band together," Ramirez added at a press conference. "There's a lot of work to do. We have to come together as a community and make this stop."

The Florida Department of Corrections identified the corrections officer as 20-year-old Tyleisha Taylor. She died after being transported to Jackson South Medical Center. She had worked at Dade Correctional Institution since January 2020. 

"We are devastated to learn a member of our FDC family, Officer Taylor, was killed in a fatal shooting. Our prayers are with her family as they navigate this unimaginable loss," Florida Secretary of Corrections Mark Inch said in a statement. 

No one has been charged in direct connection with her death. 

Authorities have not released the names of the two men killed after crashing into the college, but the Miami Herald identified them as William Everett Jr., 23, and Jahem Tyrese Ziegler, 18. Investigators believe they were involved in the shooting, but Rodriguez said it is too early to call them suspects. 

Police block an intersection near the Miami-Dade Kendall Campus in Miami, Fla., on Sunday, June 6, 2021. (Daniel A Varela/Miami Herald via AP)

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said she was "horrified" by this latest shooting.

"We will not allow a small group of violent actors to terrorize our community, and violent offenders will face the full weight of the law," she said in a statement Sunday. "I'm fully committed to making sure Miami-Dade Police Department has all the resources they need to end this cycle of gun violence and prevent more tragedy by getting violent criminals off the street."

Sunday's bloodshed was only the first of two instances of gun violence that rocked the Miami-Dade area within about a 24-hour period. 

After the mass shooting outside the hookah bar and the subsequent expressway ordeal, an unrelated murder-suicide happened early the next morning across town at an apartment complex near an air base. 

In the separate incident early Monday, Miami-Dade police responded to a call about shots fired at an apartment complex near the Homestead Air Reserve Base. A 38-year-old woman and a 15-year-old boy were fatally shot, and three other young people were wounded by the woman's boyfriend. The 42-year-old man later killed himself outside the apartment as police officers tried to negotiate with him, police said. 

An 11-year-old girl in critical condition, and a 16-year-old boy in stable condition were airlifted to Kendall Regional Medical Center. An 18-year-old was transported to Jackson South Medical Center for treatment and was in stable condition, a statement from the police department said. 

This comes one week after a mass shooting at a Miami-Dade banquet hall on May 30 left three people dead and more than 20 people wounded. Hours before the third victim’s death was announced Thursday, Miami-Dade Police and elected officials held a press conference launching a new crime-fighting operation to combat gun violence.

Three people are dead and at least five others injured following a shooting at a Florida graduation party, the latest in a string of such violence in the Miami area, police said Sunday.  (Daniel A Varela/Miami Herald via AP)

Their 12-week initiative, dubbed "Operation Summer Heat," will consist of more police patrols in cities throughout the county along with overtime and greater efforts to monitor social media and the sharing of intelligence across law enforcement agencies.

Beginning Friday, 17 strike teams comprised of code enforcement officers working alongside law enforcement officers would begin targeting illegal businesses, a source of some of the violence that has permeated throughout the county, Levine Cava said.

The announcement came days after three suspects were seen on surveillance footage waiting in a stolen SUV for about an hour before unleashing gunfire on a crowd waiting outside the El Mula Banquet Hall in Hialeah to get into a local rap artist’s album release party. The three gunmen then were seen fleeing in the same SUV, which was later found abandoned and submerged in a canal. 

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The victims who died were identified as Desmond Owens and Clayton Dillard, both 26. The third victim to later succumb to her injuries was later identified as 32-year-old Shankquia Peterson, WSVN-TV reported. 

No arrests have been made in connection to the banquet hall shooting. 

Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.

Another shooting on May 28 in the Wynwood area killed one person and injured six others.

And in nearby Miami Beach on Memorial Day, two people were wounded during a shooting at the popular Prime 112 steakhouse. Two people have been charged, including a rapper associated with hip hop star DaBaby.

Fox News’ Louis Casiano and the Associated Press contributed to this report.