Unlocked and loaded: Stolen gun from Tallahassee car used in Miami 'execution'

A pistol sat unattended in its owner's unlocked car.

It was cooling off in the vehicle, a place of illusive security, with another firearm after an evening of target practice at a local gun range in Tallahassee.

In mere hours, the guns were stolen with ease.

The open Dodge Challenger was the trigger point as one of the guns transformed from an implement of protection to a tool of murder.

Almost a year later, the same 40-caliber, semi-automatic Glock handgun made the 480-mile journey to the streets of Miami with a new unofficial owner and a new sinister purpose.

The pistol — tucked away in a soon-to-be alleged murderer's waistband — was hidden from the spring break crowds who passed by.

Dontavious Polk, the 25-year-old man who allegedly held the smoking stolen gun last, fired it 11 times to shoot and kill a man "execution style" in March, according to court records. The unprovoked shooting on a sidewalk in South Beach prompted citywide curfews and an end to spring break as Miami knows it.

Leaders and law enforcement officers in Tallahassee are urging citizens to do their part by locking their cars and taking their firearms with them — one click of a lock button could be the difference in one person's life.

"If you are careless and leave your gun consistently in your vehicle unsecured, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when," Tallahassee Police Deputy Chief Maurice Holmes said. "I can't say it enough how important it is."

How many guns have been stolen in Tallahassee?

Over the past couple of years, hundreds of guns have been stolen from cars in Tallahassee. Fewer than two dozen came from cars that were locked.

From January through August, 165 guns were stolen from vehicles in Tallahassee, according to an analysis by the joint TPD/Leon County Sheriff's Office Property Crimes Task Force. Only five came from locked cars. Last year, of the 247 guns reported stolen from vehicles, only 13 came from locked cars.

That equates to one firearm stolen roughly every 35 hours, according to the analysis.

Holmes said most of the guns that are used in crimes, especially in cases involving kids and teenagers, come from unlocked cars. Minors can't purchase firearms, so many resort to stealing them.

"We at the Tallahassee Police Department are doing everything that we possibly can to address this gun violence, but we need the community's help," he said. "Responsible gun ownership is what's needed right now."

Both TPD and the LCSO are asking all residents who choose to carry to store their firearms properly. This means keep your guns locked in a safe, use a gun lock if you have children at home and bring them inside instead of leaving them in your car.

In addition to these precautions, TPD recommends writing down or electronically documenting the serial number, photographing the gun and keeping a copy of the bill of sale.

"Sadly, due to so many serial numbers for stolen firearms being unknown, it can be difficult to determine the lawful owner of the firearm," said TPD Sgt. Dan Copelin, who works on the Property Crimes Task Force.

It's common for stolen firearms to fall in the hands of multiple people before being recovered, Copelin said, which leads to a trail of crimes the gun is involved in. Sometimes detectives are able to determine how many people have possessed the stolen firearm, but in most cases this information is unable to be determined, he said.

Copelin said residents should always report to police when a firearm is stolen, even if they don't have the serial numbers. TPD always tries to return firearms to their rightful owner, he said.

Point A to B and everything in between

A gun is a criminal's jackpot.

"These guns hit the streets and they're easy money," said Felipe Sanchez, a former New York Police Department detective and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "You steal a gun and you got $500, $600."

Firearms usually stay close to the area they're stolen from, but they can be sent anywhere, he said.

"It's amazing how far a gun can travel," Sanchez said. "It's mind boggling."

Almost always these guns move north, he said, so much so that Interstate 95 is nicknamed the "Iron Pipeline."

They're easy to transport and conceal making them the target in many burglaries, Sanchez said. Many thieves go for guns first before stealing things like cash and jewelry.

"We really have to put the onus on the owner to wake up," Sanchez said. "It's hilarious — they put a gun in the top drawer or in the back of a sock drawer and think people won't find it."

Once these guns are stolen, they hit the black markets and dark web, he said. In some cases, instead of just making a one-time sale, people will make the gun a rental. These "community guns" are specifically rented out to be used in crimes then returned when the job is done.

Criminal activity proliferates as more stolen guns circulate, and they also feed an adjacent crisis: the drug trade.

"Sometimes you don't have enough money in cash to purchase a kilo or half a kilo of cocaine, and you barter a couple of guns," Sanchez said. "It's all intertwined, and that's the biggest issue."

Sanchez, who worked as a deputy in Orange County for a few years before moving to New York where he worked as an officer for 21 years, said he was always astonished by how many people in Florida kept guns in their cars.

If a gun is stolen from a car in New York, the owner's permit to carry a firearm is revoked, he said. Florida does not have a similar law and recently allowed residents to carry gun without a permit.

"In New York, we very rarely get reports of stolen guns from cars," Sanchez said. "When I was over there . . . in three years I responded to at least five calls. That's five guns that hit the streets."

Stolen guns: Fuel for a gun violence pandemic

Stolen guns claimed the lives of two men in two of Tallahassee's most shocking episodes of violence this summer.

Solomon Sadiq, 22, was arrested in July for bursting into a family's apartment at the University Courtyard Apartment complex on South Adams Street where he allegedly shot and killed a man while his kids hid under a bed in a nearby room. He used a stolen gun during the shooting that was captured on a 911 call he made himself.

A month later, Reamon Williams, 42, was arrested in August for using a stolen gun to kill a man inside the Time Saver convenience store on Alabama Street. Williams shot the victim multiple times through a backpack in broad daylight before running away. A day later, he turned himself in.

From the beginning of the year to Aug. 21, TPD investigated 10 homicides involving guns. Seven of the guns were recovered, and two were reported stolen. Nine other gun-related deaths followed.

At least 75 serious shootings have rocked the city this year after 19 lives were lost, at least 63 people were injured, and countless lives shattered.

According to a Tallahassee Democrat analysis of gun violence, this summer's spike in crime included three separate double homicides, a mass shooting, three murders in a single 24-hour span and five accidental shootings — three of them fatal.

What happened in Miami?

A stolen gun connected Tallahassee's dark trend of mounting murders to Miami's spring break mayhem that drew the national spotlight.

Panic filled the street along Miami's famous South Beach when Polk pulled his hands out from underneath his T-shirt with the stolen Tallahassee gun, according to Miami-Dade court documents. He slowly approached the victim and shot him as the two walked past each other on the sidewalk of Ocean Drive.

Passersby fled, and so did Polk.

He ditched the gun as officers chased him before tackling him to the ground.

Following the South Beach murder — the second fatal shooting on the same street in a weekend ― the city of Miami Beach enforced an overnight curfew that was in effect from 11:59 p.m. until 6 a.m. starting March 19 to 20, and was reinstated Thursday, March 23 through Monday, March 27.

The curfew was in response to "the two shootings and the excessively large and unruly crowds" during spring break, according to City of Miami Beach Commission agenda materials.

With the tragic deaths still fresh on city leaders' minds, Miami Beach commissioners unanimously voted a week later to set a curfew for spring break 2024 as a proactive measure.

Stolen guns have been fueling the violent crimes in the state, but they are also traveling beyond state borders, contributing to the national gun violence crisis.

A gun stolen out of Orange County traveled over 1,000 miles to Hartley, Delaware, and was used in a homicide this September. A 27-year-old man shot and killed a 54-year-old in a road rage incident with a gun that was reported stolen out of the Orange County Sheriff's Office in 2015, according to the Delaware News Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network.

'Lock it or lose it'

With incidents spring boarding in the state and a revolving door of shootings and violent crime plaguing Tallahassee, residents and local leaders have had enough.

The Tallahassee Urban League launched a gun violence prevention campaign over the summer working alongside TPD to inform citizens about the dangers of leaving guns in unlocked cars and not safely securing firearms within the home.

"We have a serious, serious problem," said Curtis Taylor, president of the Tallahassee Urban League. "Our young people, our future leaders, are being killed in the streets."

The organization and Tallahassee's law enforcement agencies are repeatedly telling everyone one simple message: Lock it or lose it.

Because if you lose it, someone may just lose their life.

Knowing a Tallahassee gun ended a life in Miami all because a car was left unlocked shows how important the message is, Taylor said. It's not just a Tallahassee problem, it's a statewide problem.

"This is really horrific," he said.

Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on Twitter @elenabarreraaa.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee stolen gun used in Miami murder, led to spring break curfew