A Georgia college student was one of the Miami Beach spring break shooting victims

Osagie Jordan Idahosa, a 21-year-old college student from Georgia, was the victim of a deadly shooting Friday during spring break in South Beach, according to an incident report released Wednesday by Miami Beach police.

Police had not previously released the report as they and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office continue to investigate the shooting, which also left 21-year-old Tameen Abdullah of McDonough, Georgia, wounded.

The report says Lawarren Omeal Meadows, a 23-year-old Tallahassee man, was taken into custody.

As first responders began to perform CPR on Idahosa, Meadows approached an officer and said, “It was me,” according to the police report. When the officer asked what he meant, Meadows admitted to shooting the victim and was promptly handcuffed, the report says.

Police said that, while he was detained, Meadows “made spontaneous statements saying that someone pulled a gun on him, forcing him to defend himself.”

It was not immediately clear who Meadows was accusing of pulling the gun, whether he knew the victims, or what may have led to the incident.

Meadows has not been charged. Police are grappling with a self-defense claim under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, according to multiple law enforcement sources.

Victim was on South Beach with friends

Idahosa’s identity was first reported by WALB in Georgia, which spoke with Idahosa’s brother and a friend who was nearby when the shooting took place around 10:41 p.m. on Ocean Drive near Seventh Street.

Javon Johnson, the friend who was with Idahosa, told WALB the incident seemed to happen suddenly.

“My friend had called me to see where I was at, and I turned around for like 10 seconds,” he said. “After that, all you heard was gunshots. I really didn’t know who it was. I couldn’t see anything.”

Video taken from a cellphone camera in a nearby hotel that circulated on social media shows a crowd dispersing in all directions after gunfire, and first responders arriving moments later and performing CPR on a man lying in the street. The video seems to show several shots being fired after the victim was already on the ground.

Police said they recovered four guns at the scene and said it was an “isolated incident.” According to the incident report, Meadows told police he had thrown a gun in the bushes nearby and had another gun in his pocket. Officers took both.

The report says police later saw Abdullah on the other side of the street and rendered first aid. He and Idahosa were taken to Ryder Trauma Center. Idahosa died there, according to police, and Abdullah was listed in critical condition before being released the next day.

Dual-enrolled at Valdosta State

Idahosa was a student at South Georgia State College and was taking a class at nearby Valdosta State University as part of an entry program that allows South Georgia State students to work their way toward becoming full-time Valdosta State students, according to WALB.

This semester, Idahosa had joined VSU’s Collegiate Men student group, which posted on Instagram mourning Idahosa’s death and planned to hold a candlelight vigil Wednesday evening.

Justin Carter, the group’s president, told the Herald Idahosa was one of the youngest children in a large family and was determined to graduate college like his siblings did. He recalled a video Idahosa had posted on social media earlier this year, encouraging young people to go to school and work on themselves.

“He was all about improving himself,” Carter said. “He was a funny guy. But when he needed to be serious, he was serious.”

On his Facebook profile, Idahosa described himself as a “disciple of Christ” and posted about his involvement with the International Christian Church in recent years. He said in 2021 that he was living in Denver and was active in the Denver International Christian Church. A video posted online showed Idahosa joyful as he was baptized at an ICC event in Houston later that year.

The ICC pastor in Denver, Brian Carr, told the Daily Mail he believed Idahosa returned to Georgia in 2021.

Idahosa’s brother, Sammy, told WALB that Idahosa was a “special guy” who “went from being home-schooled to being a scholar.”

“There’s millions and millions of memories of me and Jordan,” he said. “We grew up three years apart and we practically did everything together. He’s like my twin brother.”

Carter, the Collegiate Men president, said Idahosa had traveled to Miami Beach this past weekend for spring break along with several other members of the group.

“Many students on our campus are impacted by his death,” he said. “It hurts.”

Members of Idahosa’s family could not be reached for this story.

The shooting Friday took place amid large crowds of visitors on Ocean Drive and shattered what had been a relatively peaceful spring break up to that point.

Just over 24 hours later, around 3:30 a.m. Sunday, a man was shot to death on a busy Ocean Drive sidewalk near 11th Street, a few blocks from where the first shooting took place. Police said the second incident was also isolated and “targeted.”

The second shooting prompted Miami Beach leaders to impose a midnight curfew for all of South Beach the following night. City officials voted Monday not to extend the curfew through this weekend.

Miami Herald staff writer Chuck Rabin contributed to this report.