Shooting suspect convinces Buffalo police to arrest him

In snowy Buffalo, N.Y., police officers were surprised when a teenager walked into a precinct station to turn himself in for a shooting in Miami. Cops ran his name in law-enforcement databases. Nothing.

The teen insisted — then showed a Buffalo police detective a South Florida TV news report on the shooting.

As it happens, back in South Florida, Miami-Dade police detectives had yet to actually identify 18-year-old Darren Bethel as the suspect in the Jan. 9 shooting that left a 17-year-old wounded. After Buffalo police called, Miami-Dade police detectives the next day prepared an arrest warrant, finalized when the victim identified Bethel, whom he knew only by the street nickname “Fredo,” court records show.

Bethel, who turned himself in last week, is now being held in a Buffalo jail while awaiting extradition to South Florida. He’s being charged with attempted second-degree murder, according to an arrest warrant filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

It was unclear if Bethel had a defense attorney.

The Miami shooting happened on Jan. 9 on the

2400 block of Northwest 96th Street, near a shopping center. The 17-year-old victim told police he’d been walking when two young men, including the teen he knew as Fredo, walked up.

“The victim considers ‘Fredo’ a friend from the neighborhood and was caught by surprise when ‘Fredo’ produced a firearm and began shooting at him,” the warrant said.

The teen escaped, and survived with a wound to the right thigh and calf. Police did not disclose a motive for the shooting.

According to the warrant, the wounded victim didn’t know Fredo’s last name, only his street moniker and a “possible first name of ‘Darren.’” The case went unsolved until Jan. 21, when Bethel walked into the Buffalo police department.

As proof, Bethel used his smartphone to pull up a story about the shooting published by WSVN-7, according to the warrant by Miami-Dade Detective Michael Sims.

That gave Buffalo officers enough info to call MiamiDade police, which soon obtained the warrant.

David Ovalle: 305-376-3379, @davidovalle305