Police identify 1 of 2 victims shot dead in Miami-Dade

Christopher Bradley Francois dies at 19

NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Christopher Bradley Francois turned up dead a few blocks away from the Greynolds Park School, 1536 NE 179 St., in North Miami Beach, on Friday morning.

About five months after he celebrated his 19th birthday, he was shot dead, according to police.  

North Miami Beach police covered his body abandoned at the Fulford By The Sea neighborhood. The crime scene was at the tiny Columbia Tot Lot park, where Northeast 177th Street and Northeast 13th Avenue meet. 

The park faces a little bridge that goes over a canal and leads to South Glades Drive and 176th Terrace. A few blocks west on Northeast 177th Street and Northeast 8th Place, the morning was quiet, witnesses said. But there was a burgundy Toyota Corolla that was suspicious to a resident, who called police. 

The car was still running when Miami-Dade police officers arrived and found a gunshot victim inside. Witnesses said the victim was a female.

Homicide detectives from both North Miami Beach and Miami-Dade Police were sharing their findings on both cases on Friday night. 

"Detectives will be in our community this weekend investigating the recent homicide," North Miami Beach police said on Twitter.  


About the Authors:

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.

In January 2017, Hatzel Vela became the first local television journalist in the country to move to Cuba and cover the island from the inside. During his time living and working in Cuba, he covered some of the most significant stories in a post-Fidel Castro Cuba.