After nearly a week of investigations without arrest, police have acted on a warrant to arrest Kijuan Byrd’s shooter Lukace Shane Kendle, charging him with murder.
DETAILS: Got’em! Kijuan Byrd’s Killer Arrested
Kijuan was shot and killed in the parking lot of a Miami strip club by Lukace Kendle who was the security guard at the club.
Kendle claimed that he shot Kijuan and his friend because he feared for his life and was acting within bounds of the stand your ground law, the same defense George Zimmerman used for the shooting of Trayvon Martin.
As reported by the Miami Herald:
Police said that Kendle, 26, a security guard at the club, told them he shot the two men because he felt threatened. The surviving victim was in the hospital as of Friday.
Kendle, of Homestead, is charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder.
Here’s what happened, according to police:
Kendle rolled into Club Lexx’s parking lot, about 15 minutes before the start of his 11 p.m. shift on June 1. Police said he parked his Chevrolet Avalanche and grabbed his security gear, which included a semiautomatic gun, a nightstick, a badge and a flashlight, when he noticed Michael Smathers, 31, and Kijuan Byrd, 29, both of Miami Gardens, inside a Ford F-150 in the adjacent parking space, rolling marijuana cigarettes.
According to police, Kendle first decided to join his co-workers across the parking lot before he stopped and turned back to get something from inside his truck and the shooting took place shortly after.
The same attorney that is counseling the Martin family also took on the Byrd family’s case and has his speculations about why the arrest was delayed.
Benjamin Crump, who is representing Byrd’s family, said he believes the reason for the delay was that Kendle was claiming self-defense under the state’s controversial Stand Your Ground law.
Crump, who also counsels the family of Trayvon Martin, said that the law doesn’t hold up. “It sends the message that you can shoot people and not be held accountable,” Crump said. “We have to seriously revise this.”
In the Martin case, George Zimmerman, the man accused of killing the Miami Gardens teen, used the Stand Your Ground defense.
We hope that Kijuan’s family can begin to find some sort of peace now that their son’s killer is behind bars.
SOURCE: Miami Herald
