Teenager charged in murder of Florida Rabbi
After a beloved rabbi was shot to death walking to temple last year, a
shocked community came together. Neighbors pooled money for a reward.
They went on high alert to help police find a killer.
But mostly they wondered who took the life of a religious man who wasn’t
carrying money as he strolled to synagogue for Sabbath services.
Now, after months of painful mystery, a suspect is in custody. A DNA
match and eyewitness testimony helped identify a 14-year-old Norland
High student as the alleged killer who gunned down Rabbi Joseph Raksin.
“Everyone was talking about it in shul (temple) this morning,” said Yona
Lunger, a Miami-Dade Jewish community activist and member of a
neighborhood watch group known as the Shmira Patrol. “It couldn’t be
better timing than to happen during Hanukkah when each day was a
miracle.”
Izzy Labkowski, Raksin’s son-in-law, said Wednesday that knowing that
someone is being held in custody for his father-in-law’s death brings
some comfort.
“This is a sad situation especially when we hear that the (alleged)
murderer was 14 years old,” he said. “We just hope other young kids
learn from this.”
Miami-Dade police arrested Deandre Edwin Charles, now 15, at dawn
Wednesday after a grand jury indicted him on first-degree murder and
attempted armed robbery.
Raksin, visiting from Brooklyn, was felled with one fatal .40-caliber
round to the chest on the morning of Aug. 9, 2014. Raksin was on his way
to Bais Menachem Chabad.
In accordance with his beliefs, Raksin was not carrying any valuables on
the holy day of rest — but was nonetheless targeted by at least two
young people, one wielding a pistol.
“We believe this was a robbery,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine
Fernandez-Rundle said during a news conference on Wednesday attended by
police brass, religious leaders and the county’s mayor. “It was a crime
of opportunity.”
Said the rabbi’s daughter, Shulamis Labkowski-Raksin:
“We want this vicious thug to be prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows.”
The killing rocked the tight-knit Orthodox Jewish community, where the
devout suddenly feared walking to synagogue. They pooled $50,000 for a
reward leading to an arrest. In New York City, hundreds mourned at
services for the rabbi.
The arrest capped an exhaustive 16-month investigation in which homicide
detectives combed through cellphone records, tested evidence for DNA
and even relied on a sketch drawn by a neighbor who saw the gunman
running from the scene.
Miami-Dade prosecutors declined to reveal more details about the case.
Exactly where the DNA was found at the crime scene, and how detectives
obtained a sample from Charles, remains shielded from the public as
detectives look to build a case against others believed to be involved
in the killing.
“Turn yourselves in or we will come get you,” said Juan Perez, Miami-Dade police’s acting director.
Prosecutors Michael Von Zamft and Marie Mato on Tuesday secured a grand
jury indictment. By Wednesday morning, the Norland High student was
arrested at his home in Northwest Miami-Dade.
Charles refused to talk to homicide detectives and was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
His family told reporters that Charles was home at the time of the shooting.
“He was home at the time. His whole family knows that,” stepfather
Willis Archibald told reporters. “They are pinning this on a young
teenager that has a lot of issues but this is ridiculous. I am 100
percent sure that he is innocent.”
Source: Miami Herald