A Brooklyn rapper is in the Miami-Dade County jail charged with killing a man during an argument over a parking spot in South Beach. The tragic incident began around 10:35 p.m. Sunday.
Police say Jeffery Alexander, 19, was a passenger along with several others in a white BMW that struck another car while attempting to parallel park on Alton Rd and Ocean Drive.
After the first attempt to parallel park the car, the driver of the BMW hit a gold Buick Regal parked along the northbound curb on Ocean Drive. The BMW driver inched forward and tried again to park the BMW in the tight space. The car struck the Buick “a couple more times,” according to Alexander’s arrest affidavit.
When the driver realized there wasn’t enough room to park, he tapped the Buick with the BMW’s bumper and “began force pushing the Buick back” in an attempt to create space, according to the affidavit obtained by the Miami Herald.
The Buick’s owner, 30-year-old Ladarian Tyrell Phillips of Homestead, and a friend walked across Ocean Drive and asked the BMW driver how many times he was going to hit his car.
An argument ensued between Phillips, the BMW driver and Alexander, who was standing outside the car guiding the driver into the parking space.
The unidentified driver yelled “step the f— back” to Phillips and his friend. The driver then passed a handgun to Alexander, who by now was sitting on the passenger side of the BMW, the affidavit says.
Alexander fired several rounds, hitting Phillips in the back and his friend in the leg.
Phillips died Monday morning at Jackson Memorial Hospital. His friend was treated and released, according to the Miami Herald.
After the shooting, the BMW driver sped off. Police arrived on the scene a minute later and caught up with the BMW at Alton Road and Second Street, heading north, according to the Herald.
A chase ensued and the BMW driver lost control and crashed at Fifth Street and Alton Road, damaging two police cars.
The BMW continued on one block to Sixth and Alton, where two Miami Beach police officers opened fire, hitting one of the BMW occupants.
Police detained two of the BMW’s passengers. A third fled on foot and was captured an hour later.
The wounded passenger was transported to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he died on Monday.
Alexander was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder.
Police did not release the name of the dead teen, the three passengers in the BMW or the two officers involved in the shooting. The officers were placed on desk duty per department policy when there is an officer-involved shooting.
Alexander, a fledgling rapper who performed under the stage name 22GZ, took part in a new artist showcase at a Miami Beach nightclub as part of the annual Urban Beach Week on Saturday, according to his Instagram page.
Commissioner Michael Grieco said the shootings disappointed him greatly and he planned to introduce legislation to limit Urban Beach Week hip-hop events that draw thousands of black youths to Miami Beach from all over the country during Memorial Day Weekend.
Grieco, who lives two blocks from the crime scene, said the Urban Beach Week is “a thing of the past” and will no longer be tolerated.
But Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine said in a press release Monday night that he will hold a press conference Tuesday at 10 a.m. to address certain “remarks made that portray the City negatively.”
