Grieving mother asks for help with son’s unsolved shooting in Miami Gardens

Mother of 29-year-old Miami Gardens gospel singer wants justice

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – It has been about two years since Thaddeus “Sir Raynard” Biglow was killed. The fatal shooting in Miami Gardens remains a mystery.

The 29-year-old man’s family remembers his voice fondly. The former Performing and Visual Arts Center at Miami Northwestern Senior High School student loved gospel music. As the minister of music at Fresh Oil Family Worship Center, the soprano sang at baby showers, weddings and funerals.

Biglow’s mother, Ora Austin, lost her son on Valentine’s Day, hours after a shooter left 17 people dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

“Those that follow me on Facebook know that I had even posted a prayer for those that lost loved ones that day not knowing just some hours later that I would be suffering a loss as well,” said Austin, now an activist with Florida Parents of Murdered Children, a support group that focuses on advocacy.

Austin’s 2018 Facebook post: "Let’s bind forces together and pray for our children. We don’t know if they will come back to us at the end of the day.”

While Austin and the nation mourned the victims of the massacre, Biglow left his grandmother’s house in the area of Northwest 179th Street and 24th Avenue with his friend E’zacceus Jackson and he never came back.

When Jackson returned to Biglow’s home without him, he told his family two males had followed them, and they ran and parted ways when one of them started shooting. Police officers found Biglow dead about 2 a.m. just steps away from his home. He had been shot once in the back.

Surveillance video shows Biglow and Jackson went to a convenience store at the Ocean Gas Station at 2210 NW 183rd St. It also shows a man -- who is about 150 pounds and 5-foot-8 to 10 inches tall --- and was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and black pants.

Surveillance video shows a suspect in the 2018 murder in Miami Gardens. (MGPD)

Detectives believe the Ocean Gas Station shopper is a suspect in the fatal shooting.

Surveillance video shows a suspect in a 2018 murder in Miami Gardens. (MGPD)

“Anyone out there who knows anything, don’t be afraid to come forward,” Austin said.

Austin and Miami Gardens police detectives are asking anyone with information about the fatal shooting to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.


About the Authors:

Janine Stanwood joined Local 10 News in February 2004 as an assignment editor. She is now a general assignment reporter. Before moving to South Florida from her Washington home, Janine was the senior legislative correspondent for a United States senator on Capitol Hill.

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.