Lauderhill man shot dead; 5 people on the run
A robbery gone bad left a man shot dead inside a South Florida condo in February, and the group who killed him have gone on the run — with their getaway car last seen in parts of Texas and California, police say.
One of the five wanted in the killing is Juan David Uribe Carvajal, 23, of Orlando, who police say has videos of himself on YouTube singing reggaeton music under the pseudonym “Juribel.”
The day after the killing, Carvajal was pulled over in a Texas traffic stop and arrested on an unrelated drug charge, police said. But his arrest happened before police had pieced together who the killing suspects were.
Carvajal, who gave police in Texas a false name, bonded out of jail about two days later and vanished, police said.
The slain man was Emerald Sr., 44, whose previous name was Martin Young.
The killing happened in the predawn hours of Feb. 11, when Sr., a married man who runs a tire business in Virginia and spends time in Lauderhill, invited three women home with him after meeting them in downtown Fort Lauderdale, police said.
When Sr. arrived with the women to his Lauderhill condo, one woman went to the condo building’s entrance to allow Carvajal and another man to enter Sr.’s condo.
A confrontation ensued, in which Sr. was shot dead inside his condo, Lauderhill Police Chief Constance Stanley said at a news conference Wednesday.
Surveillance footage from the condo building captured clear images of the assailants’ faces. In addition to Carvajal, police have identified three
others from the group: Cristian David Carmona Quinonez, 18, and Laura Daniela Perez-Lozano, 23, both of Colombia, as well as Alejandra Porras, 25, of Homestead.
Warrants have been issued for their arrests.
The fifth person, a young woman in a red dress, remains unidentified.
Carvajal, Quinonez and Perez-Lozano were pulled over by police on Feb. 12 in Longview, Texas, where the group gave false names to the officers. Footage from the officers’ body cameras showed the three had altered their appearance, to reduce the chances of being recognized, police said.
The suspects were last seen in a black 2013 Honda Accord, with the Florida tag 4207TW. The last known location of the Honda was in Corning, Calif., several weeks ago.
Sr.’s wife, Nakeeha Young, said her husband was vacationing in South Florida when he was killed. She helped raise the reward amount to $10,000 for any tip that leads to the suspects’ arrest.
At Wednesday’s news conference, she said she hopes the public will “help locate the individuals who killed my husband. They took something great from me.”
Police ask anyone with information about the killing to call the Lauderhill Police Department at 954-497-4700 or Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.