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Victims of 'brazen' shooting identified
Posted on Fri, Feb. 22, 2008
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By ERIKA BERAS
[email protected]
Miami police have released the names of the victims of Thursday's midday shooting in Liberty City.
They are:
Brian Smith, 27, who died on the scene.
Renaldo Nehemiha Cooper, 25, who is in critical condition.
Deshawn Blanchard, 27, in stable condition.
Franklin Graham, 24, in stable condition.
Harold Sands Jr, 25, in stable condition.
Kemran Gipson, 20, in stable condition.
Kazeem Gipson Jr., 2.
The seven all live within two blocks of the shooting.
Smith lived at the house where the shooting occurred. Police said he was the intended victim.
Cooper remained in the hospital in critical condition.
Just before noon on Thursday, Miami police were flooded with multiple calls that shots had been fired on the sidewalk around a house at 1424 NW 51st St.
Police say two men drove up to the house with a victim in mind -- Smith -- and opened fire. Smith was shot dead. They then sprayed the crowd with bullets. Six others, including the baby, were hit. Other people were not hit but were interviewed by police.
The gunmen then took off in a green vehicle.
Police did not have them in custody by Friday afternoon.
The shooting left a community in distress -- dozens of neighbors hovering by yellow tape and others peering out windows as police went door to door searching.
At first, they just found Smith shot dead and two others with gunshot wounds. The two wounded victims were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center.
As the afternoon progressed, cars began dropping off more of the gunshot victims at the hospital's doors.
''The detectives are still out there working,'' said Martha Carbana, a police spokeswoman.
No weapons were recovered, but different types of bullets were found at the scene.
Carbana called the daytime shooting ``very brazen.''
The shooting came a half day after another bold shooting in Miami.