MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – After a shooting Saturday, deputies reported that when they arrested Eric Joseph he had “a firearm on the passenger front seat” of the black car he was driving near Barry University in Miami-Dade County.
Records show Joseph, 39, who was born in Haiti and has lived in Miami-Dade for decades, shouldn’t have had a gun, according to deputies.
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Joseph was 19 when he was arrested for marijuana and 21 when he was arrested for cocaine trafficking while armed, records show.
On his 23rd birthday, Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Carmen Cabarga sentenced him to 4 years in prison for drug trafficking while armed, records show.
According to the Florida Department of Corrections, Joseph walked out of prison on Christmas Day in 2011. He was 26 and managed to stay out of trouble in Miami-Dade for over a decade.
On Saturday, deputies identified Joseph as the suspect of a shooting shortly before 8 p.m., at Northwest 110 Street and Northwest Fifth Avenue -- near his home, according to deputies.
When corrections booked him, Joseph was out on bond on a pending felony case that Miami-Dade prosecutors filed last year after Miami police officers accused him of reckless driving during a pursuit on June 7.
According to Miami-Dade deputies, Joseph also had a Nov. 20 domestic violence injunction. He appeared in court facing 27 new charges in two pending cases.
In one case, Joseph faced charges of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, four counts of shooting a deadly missile, 13 counts of possession of ammunition or weapon by a delinquent, criminal mischief, and violation of a domestic violence injunction.
In the other case, he faced five counts of first-degree attempted murder with a deadly weapon, discharging a firearm from a vehicle, and unlawfully discharging a firearm in a public place or residential area.
Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 to remain anonymous.
Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Mercedes Cevallos contributed to this report.