MIAMI – Darren Campbell, a father who was shot in front of his daughter outside of a popular Hooters restaurant in Miami’s Coral Way area, remained hospitalized on Wednesday in critical condition.
Aileen Campbell told Miami-Dade County Judge Mindy S. Glazer through tears during a virtual hearing on Tuesday that a bullet blew away her eight-year-old daughter’s earring.
She held it up for all to see and said, “How do you shoot at a father and a little girl?”
Quanesha Lewis, 34, told police officers she decided to fire her weapon after she saw Darren Campbell reach out for a gun on Saturday night outside of the Hooters at the Miracle Marketplace.
Detectives said the father reached out for his phone. He wasn’t armed.
Janelle Lewis said she and her wife were having dinner with family at 3301 Coral Way when a threatening man shouted something that scared Quanesha Lewis.
“If we don’t tip our waitress accordingly that we’re going to come out to four flat tires,” Janelle Lewis said adding Quanesha Lewis walked outside to move the car.
Darren Campbell also walked outside with his daughter and Quanesha Lewis fired her weapon while the three of them were standing on the sidewalk.
Janelle Lewis said her wife, who is a concealed weapons holder, acted in self-defense when she shot Darren Campbell twice.
Quanesha Lewis, who doesn’t have a criminal record and is a full-time employee in Tampa, is facing charges of child abuse and attempted first-degree murder with a deadly weapon.
Aileen Campbell said she doesn’t understand why prosecutors are not charging her with two counts of attempted murder. She said she could have killed or injured her daughter had the bullet struck her in the head.
“I don’t care what went on verbally, but how dare they do that to my family?” the distraught mother said, adding “How do you shoot at a father and a little girl? How do you do that?”
Janelle Lewis said Quanesha Lewis did not intend to shoot the girl who was not injured. Court records show Lewis’s defense attorney filed her written plea of not guilty on Wednesday. Lewis was released on a $55,000 bond. Her next hearing is at 9 a.m. on March 31.