A man’s shooting rampage in South Miami-Dade killed his cousin and shot a dog, cops say
A Saturday morning argument over smoking marijuana escalated into a shooting rampage that killed a man in a Leisure City living room; forced a man to jump out a second floor window; had another barricading himself with four children; saw a neighbor’s dog get shot; and a woman carjacked while she looked for a Walmart, Miami-Dade police said.
By Saturday night, musician Carlton Tillman, a graduate of Homestead South Dade High School and a former FIU student, was dead at the age of 27.
In Saturday’s last minutes, 19-year-old Ruben Williams was booked into Miami-Dade Corrections on charges of second-degree murder; three counts of attempted murder; three counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon/domestic violence; four counts of child abuse; kidnapping; carjacking; and animal cruelty with intent to kill.
Williams is Tillman’s cousin, according to the arrest report.
Also shot were an unnamed woman and 74-year-old man, who were flown to Jackson South Hospital in critical condition.
Williams was out on bond after being charged in March 2020 with fleeing an officer with lights and siren; resisting an officer without violence; and driving without a license.
That arrest report describes a terrifying march through a house and a neighborhood near Southwest 142nd Avenue and Southwest 294th Street around 11:15 a.m. Saturday morning.
Shooting people over smoking weed
According to the arrest report:
Williams’ smoking marijuana and other substances was the subject of the argument that escalated after the 74-year-old man came downstairs to see what all the noise was about. Williams continued the escalation by shooting the septuagenarian man and the woman, who scrambled back upstairs and into a bedroom.
They jumped out a window and the man broke both ankles, Miami-Dade Detective Rich Raphael wrote in the report.
Meanwhile, Williams walked into the living room, came across Tillman and shot his cousin several times. He headed upstairs, hunting for the first two people he’d shot. What he found was another man with a gun, who had been hiding in a bedroom with his four children.
The two men fired at each other with the one effect being the father retreating into the bedroom and barricading the door with a dresser.
Williams went outside to find the woman he had shot still mobile after her jump out of the window. He chased her into a neighbors’ backyard. He didn’t get another shot at her, but shot the neighbor’s barking dog, which got hustled to an animal hospital.
Nearby, a woman stopped her Chevrolet Malibu to do a smartphone search for the Walmart a mile away at 13600 SW 288th St. She never made it to Walmart as Williams jumped in her car and robbed her of her phone and wedding ring while ordering her to drive around for several hours.
Miami-Dade police arrested him at 9 p.m. and booked him into jail at 11:50 p.m.
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