One man was killed and another was wounded in separate shootings less than 24 hours apart on the same stretch of southwest Miami-Dade.
WEST PERRINE, FL — Miami-Dade deputies were searching Monday for the shooters behind two attacks that broke out less than 24 hours apart in West Perrine, where one man was killed at a birthday party Saturday night and another man was wounded during a second gathering Sunday evening.
The shootings, both on or near Homestead Avenue, rattled a southwest Miami-Dade neighborhood that was already dealing with the shock of one killing when gunfire erupted again nearby. Investigators have not said what sparked either shooting, have not announced any arrests and have not confirmed whether the two cases are linked. That has left residents with a growing memorial, a fresh crime scene and few answers as deputies continue trying to identify the people who opened fire.
The first shooting happened shortly before 10 p.m. Saturday on Homestead Avenue near West Guava Street, according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office. Deputies said 21-year-old Kenneth Walters Jr. was shot multiple times during a large birthday party. He was taken to a local hospital, where he later died. By Sunday, flowers and other items had begun piling up near the spot where he was shot, turning part of the street into a memorial for a young man neighbors said they knew and remembered. The violence then returned to the same area Sunday, before the weekend’s first case had faded from view. Just before 6:30 p.m., another shooting broke out not far away, again during a birthday party, sending people running and drawing a large response from deputies and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews.
In the second shooting, deputies responded at about 6:28 p.m. after receiving a ShotSpotter alert near Homestead Avenue and Hibiscus Street, another report from the same stretch of West Perrine. When deputies arrived, they found a man suffering from gunshot wounds. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue took him to Jackson South Medical Center’s Ryder Trauma Center, where he was listed in stable condition Sunday night. Authorities have not released his name. They also have not said how many shots were fired, whether the wounded man was the intended target or whether anyone else was hurt. Investigators placed multiple evidence markers on the road as they searched for shell casings and other clues, while patrol vehicles and emergency units crowded the block. As of Monday morning, the sheriff’s office had not released suspect descriptions, said whether anyone had been detained or announced a motive in either case.
The closeness of the shootings has become one of the most unsettling details for people who live nearby. They happened within a day of each other, on the same corridor and during birthday gatherings that should have been routine weekend events. Residents were still reacting to Walters’ killing when the second round of gunfire sent another wave of fear through the neighborhood. A growing memorial for Walters stood only feet from where deputies would later return to investigate the second shooting. That overlap has intensified community concern, even as detectives have stopped short of saying the cases are connected. Police often avoid making that call early in an investigation, particularly when witnesses are still being interviewed and evidence is still being processed. For neighbors, though, the timing and location were impossible to ignore. The same roadway became the scene of grief, then alarm, in less than 24 hours.
Neighbor Errol A. Campbell said the first shooting stunned people who knew Walters or had seen him around the area. “It’s a sad situation. I feel for the family,” Campbell said, describing Walters as “a very nice young fellow” and adding that he had never seen him involved in trouble. After the second shooting, Campbell said he was shaken by how quickly the violence returned. “I visit this area and I never, ever heard a gunshot ever,” he said. His reaction captured the mood that had spread across the block by Sunday night: grief mixed with disbelief and then with worry that the shootings might not be isolated. For investigators, the next steps are likely to center on witness interviews, forensic evidence collected from both scenes and any video that may help place shooters, vehicles or groups in the area before the gunfire started. Until then, deputies have left key questions unanswered, including whether the same people were present at both gatherings and whether the shootings grew out of a shared dispute.
Those unanswered questions matter because the public picture remains narrow. Authorities have said Walters was shot multiple times at a large party shortly before 10 p.m. Saturday. They have said a second victim was found wounded after a ShotSpotter alert at about 6:28 p.m. Sunday. Beyond that, officials have released little about the people they are looking for or the events that led to the attacks. No charges had been announced by Monday morning. No court dates were scheduled because no suspects had been named. The next formal step in both cases will be any public notice from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office about arrests, suspect descriptions or whether detectives believe the shootings are connected. Until investigators make one of those announcements, the legal side of the story remains at the earliest stage: two active criminal investigations, one homicide victim, one surviving gunshot victim and a community waiting for the sheriff’s office to say what happened and who pulled the triggers.
On the ground, the scene reflected both the speed of the violence and the way it lingered after the flashing lights left. A memorial for Walters grew as friends, relatives and neighbors stopped by to leave flowers and pay respects. A short distance away, evidence markers from the second shooting showed how quickly another crime scene had formed on the same roadway. Residents moved between sorrow and caution, talking in low voices while deputies worked. The setting was ordinary in the way many neighborhood streets are ordinary until something breaks that routine: homes, parked cars, people gathering for birthday celebrations, then the abrupt sound of gunfire and the rush of emergency vehicles. By Monday, what remained most visible was not a public explanation but the neighborhood’s own record of the weekend — flowers where Walters died, a wounded man recovering in the hospital and a block trying to understand why two celebrations ended with deputies searching for shooters.
For now, where things stand is clear even if much else is not: Kenneth Walters Jr., 21, is dead, a second man is hospitalized in stable condition, and Miami-Dade deputies have not announced arrests or said whether the shootings are connected. The next milestone will be the sheriff’s office’s first detailed update on suspects, motive or any link between the two cases.
Author note: Last updated March 23, 2026.