OPA-LOCKA, Fla. – Miami-Dade police on Thursday arrested a teenager accused of killing 71-year-old man outside a supermarket in Opa-locka.
Police charged 17-year-old Jamal Jackson with first-degree murder. Investigators said three witnesses identified Jackson as the gunman who shot and killed Miguel Pilotos on Aug. 21.
Police say Jackson shot Pilotos in the parking lot of Top Value Supermarket at 13931 NW 27th Avenue. Pilotos was pronounced dead at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
In surveillance video released by police, Jackson circles Pilotos on his bicycle, stops as Pilotos gets into his car, pulls out a gun, then shoots him and rides off, police say. A security guard told police he saw Jackson inside the supermarket and said that he was behaving oddly as he walked through different aisles without buying anything.
Prosecutors will seek an indictment to charge Jackson as an adult, which must first go before a grand jury. While he wasn't at the hearing Friday, his sister and mother were.
"She (his mother) was physically shaking when she was in court," said Jackson's attorney, Rod Vereen. "This is probably the worst day in her life to be in court with her son who is possibly facing life in prison."
Vereen said he planned to have Jackson evaluated for mental health issues.
"I have been advised as to some serious head trauma about four years ago concerning an accident where he was ejected from the vehicle," he said. "I don't know how that plays into it."
Jackson is scheduled to return to court on Oct. 4. A source told Local 10 he was previously arrested for possession of cocaine, burglary, possession of burglary tools, grand theft, and battery on a law enforcement officer.
Pilotos, a retired father of two, liked to play dominoes with friends, said his family.