Inset: Isaiah Collins (Pembroke Pines Police). Background: Authorities at the Florida home where Collins allegedly killed a man and a woman last week (WFOR).
A 27-year-old man in Florida has been arrested for allegedly killing two people inside a home owned by his grandmother last week after spending several days on the lam and then attempting to evade authorities by swimming across a canal and climbing a tree.
Isaiah Collins was taken into custody over the weekend and is facing two counts of first-degree murder in the slayings of 28-year-old Octavis Anthony Myers and 24-year-old Tiara Belizaire-Young, authorities announced.
According to a news release from the Pembroke Pines Police Department, officers and firefighters at about 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 10 responded to a home in the 1700 block of NW 109 Avenue after someone called 911 and reported an “unconscious and unresponsive man inside of a garage.” Upon arriving at the scene, first responders said they located the man — later identified as Myers — and determined he had been “deceased for some time.”
Police then searched inside the home where they located Belizaire-Young dead in a bedroom. Authorities have not disclosed how the victims died, only saying that their deaths appeared to be “criminal in nature.”
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Initially, police said they were searching for Collins out of “concern for his wellbeing,” noting that he “frequently lives with his grandmother.” However, three days after the initial release from police, the department said its investigators had uncovered evidence that Collins was actually responsible for murdering both victims.
The relationship between Collins and the victims was not disclosed.
Collins” whereabouts remained unknown until Sunday, when an off-duty deputy with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office spotted him at a park in the City of Miami Gardens and reported the sighting, requesting emergency backup because Collins was “considered to be armed and dangerous.” When authorities arrived, they said Collins attempted to run.
“The subject fled on foot, ran across the Florida Turnpike, jumped into a canal, swam across it, and climbed up a tree,” the sheriff’s office said in a release. “Additional deputies responded to the area and began to plead with the subject to come down. The subject refused to demonstrate cooperative behavior and was making erratic movements. At one point the subject gestured towards his waistband, as if attempting to reach for something, and a deputy discharged his service weapon, striking the subject in the lower, left arm.”
Collins was apprehended and transported via helicopter to HCA Aventura Hospital for treatment in stable condition.
After the incident, Miami-Dade Sheriff Christopher Carothers tried to explain the officer-involved shooting to a gaggle of reporters.
“There must’ve been something at the moment they realized non-compliance and there was a reason for the deputy to fire,” Carothers said, according to the Miami Herald.
In addition to the dual murder charges, Collins will face additional charges stemming from the chase and capture in Miami-Dade, authorities said.
It was not immediately clear when Collins was scheduled to appear in court.
