Hookah lounge graduation party left 3 dead. Miami-Dade police have a break in the case

CBS News Miami
·2 min read
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Five people are in custody in connection with a deadly shooting two years ago when gunfire erupted outside a graduation party at a hookah lounge in Kendall, Miami-Dade police said Friday.

Jeremy Devine, 22, of Homestead, Willie Lee Thomas III, 21, of Atlanta, and Melchelzadek Jacory Matthews , 21, of Naples, have been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the June 2021 shooting, according to police.

Thomas was arrested in Atlanta while Matthews was arrested in Fort Myers, police said. They were both awaiting extradition back to Miami as of Friday morning, officials said.

Police said James A. Johnson III, 20, of Florida City, is facing a drug charge and Aaron J. Clermont, 21, of Homestead, is facing gun possession and drug charges, according to a police statement.

KNOW MORE: 3 people dead, 5 injured in shooting near Miami Dade-Kendall campus, cops say

Detectives cross the street near the Miami-Dade Kendall Campus in Miami, Fla., on Sunday, June 6, 2021. Three people are dead and at least six 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. One of those killed was a state corrections officer, Miami-Dade police Director Freddie Ramirez told news outlets. (Daniel A Varela/Miami Herald via AP)

Law enforcement officials said the arrests were significant developments in the case.

“I am incredibly proud of my detectives for their hard work and dedication in capturing the individuals responsible for the senseless shooting at the Hookah Lounge during a graduation party,” Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo Ramirez III said in a statement. “I understand how important it is for families to receive closure and justice when their loved ones have been victimized.”

“After almost two years of dedicated collaboration between my team of Assistant State Attorneys and the Miami-Dade Police Department Homicide Detectives, those responsible for the tragic deaths during what was supposed to be a night of celebration, are finally being brought to justice,” State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in the statement. “The over a dozen warrants that my prosecutors generated and filed assisted the difficult work of our law enforcement partners gathering the necessary information and leads that have resulted in these arrests and the filing of criminal charges.”

The shooting on June 6, 2021, shortly before 2:30 a.m., left three people dead and at least five people hurt.

Police said at the time that a group who had been at a party at at the location were standing outside the business when gunfire erupted, killing Tyleisha Taylor, a Florida Department of Corrections officer.

Two men who took off were found dead inside a car that crashed into a wall at the campus of Miami-Dade College, police said.

Miami Herald news partner CBS News Miami produced this report.