Background: The Aliro luxury apartment complex in North Miami, Florida (Google Maps). Insets, clockwise from left: Eddrick Malik Bethune (Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office), Devorise Carl Johnson (Miami Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation), Naquon Jahrell Fagan (Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation).
Two men in Florida are in custody in connection with an alleged kidnapping plot in which the suspects allegedly posed as police officers — and law enforcement officials say more suspects may be out there.
The body of Eddrick Malik Bethune, 22, was found the morning of Oct. 4, according to local ABC affiliate WPLG. Devorise Carl Johnson, 21, and Naquon Jahrell Fagan, 25, are accused of kidnapping and murdering him; police records indicate as many as five people may have been involved in the slaying.
The violence unfolded on the night of Oct. 3, when five people arrived at the Aliro luxury apartment complex in North Miami, according to a probable cause affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime. The suspects were inside a rented gray 2026 Camry that was equipped with blue and red flashing lights; the group waited in the parking lot for hours until around midnight on Oct. 4, when Bethune walked out of his building, police say.
As Bethune approached the car, two men wearing baseball caps and shirts emblazoned with the word "POLICE" allegedly stepped out of the Camry, armed with guns. They allegedly forced Bethune to the ground, handcuffed him and took his apartment keys and cellphone. At that point, a third suspect got out of the car, tossed Bethune's phone across the parking lot and grabbed his keys, allegedly signaling to two more accomplices inside the car, police say.
Three of the suspects then used Bethune's keys to enter his apartment, according to the affidavit; surveillance cameras from inside the residence purportedly show two suspects walking toward the bedroom area, while a third pointed a handgun at a sofa in the living room.
Meanwhile, a person identified in the probable cause statement only as "Victim #2" — who was in the apartment lying on a sofa when the suspects allegedly entered — stood up and grabbed an AK-47-style rifle, opening fire on one of the suspects. The two exchanged gunfire, with the targeted suspect taking multiple hits.
The three intruders then allegedly decided to flee — but had no safe way out, according to the affidavit.
"With no avenue for escape, all three subjects jumped out of the third-story bedroom window, attempting to flee the scene," the probable cause statement says. The injured alleged co-conspirator, the document notes, "bled on the floor, walls, curtains, blinds and broken glass from the window of the apartment."
As chaos unfolded in the apartment, two of the fake officers from the rented Camry "forcefully placed [Bethune] into the rear seat of the vehicle" as he tried to escape. Surveillance video purportedly captured the three intruders run toward the Camry and get inside. Additional video showed the Camry drop off the injured suspect at a hospital, the affidavit says.
"The other four subjects and [Bethune] continued traveling to the area of SW 216 St. and SW 189 Ave., where [Bethune] was shot multiple times and killed," police say.
After the shooting, the suspects "attempted to destroy the Toyota Camry [] by igniting the vehicle on fire," the affidavit says.
Records from the Miami-Dade Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation show Johnson and Fagan in custody. They both face charges including first-degree murder, kidnapping, robbery and falsely impersonating an officer.
Future court dates were not immediately available.
Investigators linked one of the suspects to the Camry through car rental records. Cellphone data and video footage also placed Fagan at both the crime scene and at an area Family Dollar store hours before the kidnapping; video purportedly shows Fagan "buying black gloves—matching those worn by a suspect during the abduction," according to the document.
Fagan was arrested on Wednesday, Oct. 21; Johnson was arrested earlier in the month, according to a WPLG report.