2 arrested in execution-style shooting of man at Aventura high-rise condo, police say

Two Miami-Dade residents were captured by police after one of them was caught on video shooting a 37-year-old man to death outside a luxury high-rise in Aventura last week, officials announced Thursday afternoon.

Nicholas Javier Singleton, 38, and Kevina Ferguson, 27, were booked overnight into Miami-Dade County’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center jail, where they remained Thursday afternoon.

Although Singleton is the only one accused of pulling the trigger, both are charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder with a deadly weapon. Singleton is also charged with three counts tampering with evidence, and Ferguson with accessory after the fact.

At the request of the victim’s family, the Aventura Police Department won’t release the name of the man killed. Police Chief Michael Bentolila declined to give details at a Thursday press conference into what led to the fatal shooting at Turnberry On The Green condominium, 19501 W Country Club Drive, in the early morning hours of Oct. 31st.

The relationship between the suspects is unclear but police said they were arrested Wednesday morning inside a Northwest Miami-Dade home — where the two lived together.

“This is still an ongoing investigation,” Bentolila told reporters at police headquarters.

What led to the shooting?

Police didn’t provide details on what preceded the shooting — only describing how it went down.

Just before 4 a.m. Oct. 31, the murdered man and another person walked to Turnberry to pick up a package from someone because he didn’t want others to know where he lived, detectives said.

Minutes later, security footage shows a vehicle arriving. An investigation later revealed that Singleton was behind the wheel and Ferguson was in the passenger seat, the pair’s arrest reports read.

Detectives also learned Singleton had been in contact with the man police say he killed, and that they both agreed to meet at the condo building. Singleton, Ferguson nor the victim lived there.

The victim went into the vehicle before Singleton drove it around the driveway and returned to the front doors where the man got out of the car.

This happened twice more — the man hopping in the car, driving around and then him hopping out. On the last go around, Singleton parked near the condo’s valet parking and the victim walked over, the report read. There, Ferguson jumped to the backseat of the vehicle.

Before opening the front passenger door to speak with Singleton, the man texted an unidentified person that he suspected the pair were going to kill him.

Moments later, Singleton is seen on surveillance video raising his arm toward the man and a muzzle flash follows, which a witness said heard like a gunshot. The wounded man, who was pushed back from the bullet’s impact, screams and runs to the front of the condominium.

After he collapsed in front of the lobby doors, Singleton ran up, “pointing a gun to the base of the victim’s skull, and firing a round,” the reports read. Singleton patted the man down, searching for the victim’s phone, eventually finding it on the floor before fleeing with Ferguson.

Around 4:30 a.m. Aventura officers rushed to the condo building in response to a call about a person shot, finding a man lying on his back in the middle of its front driveway and near the condominium’s front doors, according to the reports. He died before paramedics could take him to a hospital.

What happened after that?

After investigators found the vehicle used in the shooting, its owner told police the pair had asked her to bring her car to Ferguson’s home, and testified they had the car at the time of the shooting. On Nov. 8, police executed a search warrant at their home and detained them.

Police say the suspects first provided false statements before they were confronted with evidence of their involvement. While Singleton decided to lawyer up and not speak further, Ferguson told detectives she was in the car and that it was Singleton who shot and killed the man.

She went on to reveal how Singleton destroyed a paper tag used to cover the car’s license plate and threw away the man’s phone. On top of that, she detailed to investigators where he discarded the murder weapon, police said. At that location, officers found a .38 caliber revolver.

Evidence was still being analyzed Thursday, including the package the victim went to get and its contents. Police didn’t say what was inside it.

Chief Bentolila told reporters that knowing who killed the man and why will bring closure to the family and Aventura residents.

“When something like this happens, we take it very seriously,” Bentolila said. “We don’t spare (resources) when it comes to identifying somebody who is responsible for a crime in order to bring our community back at ease.”

Miami Herald reporter Devoun Cetoute contributed to this report.