MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Less than a week after a 2-year-old boy was killed by a stray bullet here, the neighborhood of Goulds gathered for a candlelight vigil to remember Carnell Williams-Thomas.
Miami-Dade police said Carnell was fatally wounded by a stray bullet just after 6 p.m. Friday in the courtyard of the Arthur Mays Villas, a public housing apartment complex at 21491 SW 114 Court.
Police have repeatedly appealed to the public for help to find the gunman. Authorities have offered a $25,000 reward for information in the case.
Scores of people gathered at the makeshift memorial near the spot where Carnell was shot, adding balloons, candles and stuffed animals.
“How am I going to explain it to my kids?" said Soia Gordon, who is also the victim's neighbor. "They ask me when can they come outside and play with him? And they can’t even come outside and play with him. They just need to get this community together.”
After the vigil, police and Miami-Dade County leaders held a packed town hall meeting about the violence that at times grew tense.
Politicians and pastors joined police to make an impassioned pleas for justice.
But other residents said the death of Carnell wasn't an isolated incident in a county that has seen more than 700 shootings this year.
One resident said police and other leaders must work harder if they want to put an end to the violence.
“When that 2-year-old got killed, oh yeah, I felt that pain," the man told the officials. "But the thing is you all don’t have a solution.”