MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Nearly five months after a shooting and a robbery, police officers arrested a Miami Gardens man who stands accused of stealing from the victim. The gunman remains on the run.
The victim — who was paralyzed after surviving the shooting — identified a neighbor as the thief who took his backpack in May, according to an arrest report released on Wednesday.
Police officers first found the victim shot on the ground at about 6:10 p.m., on May 12 in the area of Northwest 175 Street and 27 Avenue, according to the report.
The victim told police officers that he got into a tussle with the gunman when he was shot and Eric Wallace stole from him, according to police.
Detectives detained Wallace, 49, at his home on Tuesday in Miami Gardens and questioned him at the police station, according to police.
Wallace said he took the backpack because he was going to call the police for help, but the victim’s phone was dead, according to police.
Wallace told police that he had the victims’ belongings at his home, but he could not explain why he did not attempt to return them, according to the police.
Records show Wallace was at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. He was facing a charge of armed robbery with a deadly weapon, a non-bondable offense, and he also had a pending battery case for domestic violence.
Detectives were asking anyone with information about the case to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.
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