Miami Police homicide detectives have released dramatic footage of the drive-by shooting of Demonte Poitier in Coconut Grove last year – a murder that police say is gang related.
Poitier, 24, was shot and killed on February 13, 2024 as he sat in a silver 2003 Toyota Camry near 3354 Plaza Street in the West Grove. The murder is unsolved.
The short video, released on X (formerly Twitter) last month, shows a black Chevy Tahoe drive by the parked Camry at the moment the shooting occurs.
As the Chevy disappears from view, Poitier falls from the driver’s side of the Camry. Police say he can be heard calling for help, but that portion of the audio isn’t included with the posted video.
The video, which has been viewed more than 1,700 times, can be seen here.
Miami Police Commander Daniel Kerr encouraged West Grove residents twice last week at two different community meetings to view the clip, saying the video may prompt someone to come forward with information that could help to crack the case.
“The walls are closing in and eventually someone is going to speak,” Kerr told one group of residents on Monday last week. “Let’s solve this murder.”
On Saturday, Kerr made a similar appeal at the Ministerial Alliance meeting, prefacing his remarks with a reference to a recent arrest on Charles Terrace. Police have not explicitly said the two cases are related, but an arrest affidavit in the Charles Terrace case said the reason for the police action was “a gang related homicide investigation.”
Kerr said the video of Poitier’s murder is gripping because of the power of the weapon used, which he described as a “killing machine,” and because you can see Poitier, also known as Red, tumble from the car and collapse in the street after he is shot.
“If you haven’t seen it, I encourage you to look,” Kerr said on Saturday at the Ministerial Alliance meeting at Greater St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church.
“There are people who you talk to, there are probably people who come to this church, that know who was in that (black Chevy Tahoe) that night. It is going to take one of them saying something to blow this case up.”
The video released by police also includes an appearance by Poitier’s mother, Sabrina Rolle.
“His life just got cut off short, and he had a lot of goals. He loved his family members, he loved his kids,” Rolle says in the video. “It’s like we don’t go a day without missing him.”
Kerr said the weapon used in the shooting was capable of firing 40 rounds in three seconds. The bullets come so quickly “it almost sounds like a hum. It doesn’t even sound like gunshots,” Kerr said.
“The weapon used in the video is something that we cannot allow,” he added. “It is so violent and so dangerous… it’s something that’s just not an acceptable thing in our neighborhood, and we should resist, resist, resist. If you know about it, if you know how it’s happening, if you know who was involved with it, please let the detectives know.”
The video was posted on X with this message from detectives:
“If you have any information on the homicide of Demonte Poitier we ask that you please call the Miami Police Homicide unit at 305-603-6350 or if you want to remain anonymous you can call 305-471-TIPS.”
