MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Prosecutors officially charged a 16-year-old as an adult in a deadly shooting that caused chaos inside a busy southwest Miami-Dade Walmart late last month.
Police arrested Malachi Allen Allah after the shooting; he was charged with second-degree murder and transferred from juvenile detention to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center Wednesday.
Police said Allah and the victim, identified by family members as 19-year-old Noah Perez, got into a verbal argument at the Walmart Supercenter, located in the 21000 block of South Dixie Highway, near Goulds, that escalated into a shootout.
According to a police report, surveillance footage from Sept. 28 shows Allah pulling a gun from his waistband and firing at the victim, who, despite being critically injured, pulled out his own gun and fired back.
Perez was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
The shooting terrified shoppers.
“I dropped my sub and ran like hell,” witness Erika Pozo said in an interview with Local 10 News following the shooting.
Officers apprehended Allah several blocks away from the store and took him to Miami-Dade police headquarters, the report states.
Police said Allah confessed to the crime.
Allah told police that he and the victim used to be friends, but had a falling out, the report states. Police said Allah told investigators that he had bumped into him at the store, which led to the argument.
“(Allah) stated that following the argument, he proceeded to walk through the store,” police wrote. “(He) explained that after hearing the victim call his name, he produced a handgun and began to fire at the victim.”
Following his arrest, Allah’s mother told Local 10 News she believed he was defending himself.
Allah told officers that at the time of the shooting, he did not see the victim holding a weapon, according to the report.