Miami-Dade cops find cache of high-powered weapons while investigating triple shooting

Police found a cache of high-powered weapons and ammunition in a Brownsville home near where three people were shot and injured late Monday night, according to multiple law enforcement sources, intensifying fears of retaliatory shootings after a popular local rapper was gunned down two weeks ago.

A vehicle rolled up and someone opened fire in front of a home in the 2300 block of Northwest 58th Street. Two men and a woman were struck just outside the home, then ran inside. One was shot in the arm, another in the leg and a third drove himself to the hospital after being grazed by a bullet, police said. The injuries are not life-threatening.

Police haven’t released a description of the vehicle. A search of the home uncovered a trove of weapons and ammunition that included five semi-automatic rifles and 10 handguns.

Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez wouldn’t say if Monday night’s triple shooting was retaliatory for the rapper’s death. He said the increased police presence would continue and intelligence will be shared with other agencies.

“It’s just very frustrating and it’s just typical beefs in the area,” Ramirez said. “All our resources are in there and we’re working with the community.”

The shooting occurred during a beefed up presence of Miami-Dade police patrol units and task force members the past two weeks after the Jan. 14 ambush and shooting death of Brownsville rapper Wavy Navy Pooh, whose real name is Shandler Beauvien.

Beauvien was gunned down at a suburban Kendall intersection as two children and a woman sat in the back seat of his Toyota Camry. The passengers were not injured. The gunfire is believed to have come from inside a Lexus that pulled up next to the musician.

No one has been taken into custody for that shooting. Police believe Beauvien was somehow involved in a series of shootings in the county’s Northside District in 2021.

The increased police presence also falls under Operation Community Shield, a program put in place by Miami-Dade police and several other agencies last summer after the shooting deaths of two infants and several mass shootings in the county. The program, which focuses on an increased police presence, arrests and drug sweeps, also includes other police agencies, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

Miami-Dade, which had seen a rise in its murder rate during the first part of 2021, bucked the national trend. Homicides dropped by 36 percent in the second half of the year and police said they made 3,741 arrests and took 946 firearms off the streets.

The Brownsville shooting Monday was just a few blocks from where a car and foot chase last week ended with a Miami-Dade police officer shooting a 15-year-old boy who remains hospitalized and partially paralyzed.

Early Sunday morning on Jan. 16, an officer from the beefed up task force responded to a report of a stolen vehicle and spotted it and another car near a fast-food restaurant in Brownsville. When police ordered the drivers of the vehicles to stop, they sped off and the stolen vehicle got away. But the other car, a 2021 Dodge Challenger, crashed into a fence and a tree in a park a block from where the three people were shot Monday night.

Two men jumped out and got away. A third, a 15-year-old who police say was holding a black Glock handgun, was chased down and shot from behind, his family says. Police haven’t released many details of the shooting incident, which is being investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Vito Corleone-Vinisee, 15, was charged with possession of a firearm by a minor and resisting arrest without violence. He’s also facing charges for failing to appear at two court appearances last year from arrests in different jurisdictions. His attorney said that was due to a change of address.

The teen’s family said they intend on fighting the charges and that they will file a lawsuit against the police department. Police have not indicated if the shooting of the teen or the triple shooting Monday night are in any way tied to Wavy Navy’s death.

In Monday night’s triple shooting, police are still looking for the shooter and haven’t released a description of the vehicle. They say they were alerted to the incident on Northwest 58th Street by ShotSpotter, an electronic monitoring device that records gunfire sounds and relays the information in real time to officers.