Miami police kill unarmed Haitian

Less than 20 yards from his door, Gracia Beaugris was stopped and then shot to death by Miami Dade County police officer Christopher Villano on Oct. 26.

Beaugris, 19, was coming home from a laundromat with friends when Officer Villano stopped and then frisked them. Beaugris, who had emigrated from Haiti six years earlier, tried to question Villano about being stopped.

At this point, according to the other youth, the officer shouted profanity at Beaugris, who was already spread-eagled against a wall. The cop shoved him and eventually put him in a chokehold. Beaugris was shot in the arm and fell. Then the Miami Dade cop fired two more shots into him while on the ground. One was in the back of the head above the ear; another entered his shoulder.

Villano’s version, reported in the Miami Herald, was that he had believed the victim was going for the officer’s gun. Beaugris was unarmed.

“He didn’t do anything to get shot down,” said one of the teens who was on the scene but asked not to be identified. Beaugris’ aunts and father all say that “BG” was a good kid. They say that when he was shot, he was returning from the laundromat after washing his father’s work clothes.

Some in the community here are calling it murder. Others are just as disturbed over how the shooting occurred and say it was unjustified. Tensions clearly exist in the community. Local police have harassed young people who created a memorial for the dead teen.

A full investigation into the case has not been completed.