Home »

Gunman assaults girl at North Miami home

BY TIM HENDERSON

thenderson@MiamiHerald.com

A masked gunman broke into a North Miami home early Wednesday and sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl, then tried to break into another home where two other teenage girls were sleeping, police said.

In both cases, the man used lawn furniture to enter the bedroom windows where the teens were sleeping on Northwest 127th Street in the Sun-kist Grove neighborhood.

Police were looking at similar cases in North Miami and neighboring areas to see if the attacker has struck before but have not yet found a link among the crimes.

Neighbors in the mostly Haitian-American neighborhood of single-family homes said they are concerned about sexual offenders in the neighborhood.

''If they start touching our kids, I'm going after them myself. I'm not playing,'' said a man who identified himself only as Lou, who was with his 1-year-old son in his front yard.

State records show 20 registered sexual offenders within a mile of the crime scene. Police said they're aware of the offenders and routinely include them in investigations, but there's no evidence any of them was involved.

Police warned residents to lock their doors and windows and stay vigilant.

''Obviously, this guy is dangerous,'' police Detective Felix Gaudarrama said. ``If he tried to do two sexual assaults within minutes, we need to get him out of the way.''

The assault victim's father told The Miami Herald news partner WFOR-CBS 4 that he awoke to hear his daughter being assaulted and scared off the gunman, who had dragged his daughter outside.

A few minutes later, two teen girls in a neighboring house were awakened by the sound of someone, apparently the same man, trying to break into their bedroom window. The girls screamed, and the man disappeared.

Police are looking for a man about five feet nine inches tall, with a bottom row of gold teeth.

Anyone with information is asked to call North Miami detectives at 305-891-0294.