MIAMI — A 40-year-old man is facing a second-degree murder charge in connection with a shooting that left a younger man dead nearly two months ago, authorities confirmed in an arrest report obtained by Local 10 News on Friday.
The suspect, who Miami police identified as Eldrick Marquez Gavins, is accused of fatally shooting a 33-year-old man following an argument inside an apartment building.
Authorities said officers and fire rescue crews were dispatched around 1:40 a.m. to an apartment near the 800 block of Northwest 70th Street in Liberty City after receiving reports of a shooting.
Upon arrival, officers said they found the victim on the ground outside the apartment suffering from a gunshot wound to the torso.
They said he was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital Ryder Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead at 2:24 a.m. by medical staff. His identity has not been released.
Detectives later executed a search warrant at the apartment and recovered two spent .380-caliber casings from the living room.
They said surveillance video obtained from a nearby building showed a black Nissan Sentra arriving at the complex just before the shooting.
A woman was seen exiting the driver’s side and Gavins the front passenger side before both individuals crossed the street and entered the apartment complex, according to an arrest report.
Roughly 20 minutes later, police said the woman returned to the car alone and drove away. Using surveillance cameras, police said they tracked the vehicle leaving the area.
On June 21, officers located the same Nissan Sentra in a grocery store parking lot near the 1100 block of Northwest 54th Street and conducted a traffic stop.
Authorities said Gavins was in the passenger seat, and the woman was driving before both individuals were detained. They said officers observed a gun partially visible beneath the front passenger seat.
That evening, detectives said they interviewed the woman.
She told police that Gavins had become angry after seeing messages from the victim on her phone, according to the report.
She said he asked to return to the apartment, and once there, an argument broke out between Gavins and the victim.
Police said the woman claimed that the confrontation between both men turned physical and she saw Gavins stand over the victim and shoot him, the report stated.
The victim told detectives she left the scene but later picked up Gavins nearby and drove him home, the report stated.
On June 23, ballistic testing confirmed that the gun recovered from the car — a black Sig Sauer P238, .380-caliber — matched the shell casings found at the scene, according to investigators.
Detectives also determined Gavins was on supervised release at the time and wearing an ankle monitor, which confirmed he was at the location during the time of the shooting.
Authorities said a witness at the complex later reported seeing both Gavins and the woman enter the apartment with the victim.
Shortly after, the witness said they heard an argument over text messages, followed by two gunshots. The witness reported seeing Gavins exit the apartment holding a gun and shouting, “I should kill all you motherf-----s,” police wrote in the report.
The witness told police that Gavins then returned to the victim, searched his pockets, and fled through the back of the building, the report stated.
Authorities said Gavins, who is known by the street name of “Puttin,” was known to the witness and lived in a nearby apartment in the same complex.
The nature of the messages Gavins allegedly saw in the woman’s phone has not been disclosed.
As of Friday, he is being held without bond at the Miami-Dade County Pre-Trial Detention Center.
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