Corey Smith, the popular head football coach of Miami Senior High School, welcomed 15-year-old Charles Alexander into his house when the boy’s father was slain while committing a crime. However, the youngster had a terrible manner of expressing his appreciation. Smith was discovered dead with his own revolver at his house in West Little River, Florida, after taking Charles in.
Smith and Lamar Alexander, 41, were officially cousins, but they were nurtured as brothers as children; thus, Lamar’s kid, Charles, was regarded as Smith’s “nephew.” That’s why, after the death of Lamar, an ex-felon, in a firefight with cops, Smith didn’t hesitate to allow Charles into his house. Sadly for Smith, the adage “like father, like son” came true.
Lamar Alexander and another ex-con, Ronnie Jerome Hill, 41, were killed in a gunfight with police after attempting to steal a jewelry shop while armed. After the attempted armed robbery, the couple seized a UPS truck, took the driver hostage, and led police on a high-speed pursuit from Coral Gables, Florida, that stopped when the vehicle became stalled in traffic on a highway near Miramar.
A gunfight with cops erupted, which was captured on video. Together with the two suspects, Frank Ordonez, a 27-year-old UPS worker who was kidnapped, and Richard Cutshaw, a 70-year-old motorist who occurred to be in the neighborhood, were slain. Cutshaw, a union leader, was just two years from retiring when he was killed in his automobile. Ordonez was survived by two young kids.
Smith didn’t hold Lamar’s bad decisions against the youngster he regarded as his nephew. Even though Smith hadn’t seen Charles since his father’s death, the coach welcomed him with open arms when he phoned to reconnect and wanted to come over on a Sunday. That would, though, be a severe error.
The cops were summoned to Smith’s house the next day, less than a year after Lamar’s murder, when at least three gunshots were heard by neighbors that tragic Monday morning. Police were called to the site after Smith was discovered shot to death in his den. According to Charles, who was at home with Smith at the time, the gunshot happened while he was studying. He flatly denied any participation.
Charles was permitted to go home after being interrogated for many hours by the Miami-Dade Police Department, but as the investigation progressed, his alibi started to disintegrate. Surveillance camera evidence, according to authorities, indicated that Charles was the only one inside the residence with Corey Smith at the time of the incident.
Police also located Smith’s personal 9mm Beretta pistol in a trash can outside the residence and suspect it was used to murder him. Officers also discovered $7,450 in cash belonging to the coach in a pair of Charles’ pants stashed in a black bag. But, the most significant break in the case occurred only days after Smith’s murder, when Charles’ mom called the police.
With proof growing against the young relative, Charles’ mom requested an interview with the police, claiming that she was in terror of the defendant, who she said admitted to her that he brutally murdered his uncle while staying at his residence after robbing him of over $7,000 cash. Charles Alexander was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and armed grand theft after his confession.
In addition to his mother’s confession, Charles Alexander allegedly told detectives that he was the one who shot Corey Smith. Despite the fact that Charles was first hauled before a juvenile court, where a judge ordered him to be placed in secure confinement, Miami-Dade County prosecutors said that he will be tried as an adult.
Charles Alexander’s initial run-in with the authorities, though presumably his last, was not his first. He was arrested in May 2018 for allegedly making a bomb threat at an Allapattah middle school. According to the police, school officials got “several phone calls” threatening to explode a bomb unless the school was evacuated. Charles Alexander and two others were detained when the calls were tracked to a phone on campus.
The case, which was still pending at the time of Corey Smith’s murder, had been brought before the juvenile court but had been halted when Charles Alexander was found incapable to stand trial four times owing to mental health issues. Most adolescents suffer from early childhood trauma, intellectual disabilities, and mental illness, and the criminal justice system cannot afford to let them slide through the gaps, Alexander’s attorney, Rod Vereen, stated.
If the claims are true and his client committed this heinous atrocity, this is a textbook example of the system failing this kid, according to Vereen. Should he have been involuntarily committed during the last couple of years, so he would not have been a risk to the community? Coach Smith would still be living today, wouldn’t you say? Who, if the facts are correct, failed whom?
The counsel for Charles Alexander raises genuine concerns. When should the system declare an adolescent to be a risk to others? Unfortunately, it is often after they have caused injury to someone else. After all, no one wants to see a youngster in trouble, and if the police had committed Charles after the bomb threats, they would have been branded bigots for being too harsh on the black adolescent. As a result, he was granted a second chance and released. A gentleman has now paid for it with his life. Maybe it’s time to toughen up on crime, even if it’s committed by a youngster.
