Inset: Roseita Lavette Smith (Miami-Dade County Corrections & Rehabilitation). Background: The Red Rooster restaurant located on Northwest 2nd Ave. in Miami, Fla. (Google Maps).
A woman in Miami, Florida, is accused of shooting her son on Christmas day outside a popular Red Rooster restaurant because he was being “disrespectful.”
Roseita Lavette Smith, 50, has been charged with aggravated battery with a weapon — causing bodily harm, jail records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
She was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center just after midnight on Friday under no bond.
On the day of the incident, Smith and her son were inside the Red Rooster on Northwest 2nd Avenue in the neighborhood of Overtown for brunch, according to an arrest report obtained by local independent TV station WPLG. At some point, Smith became upset, accusing her son of acting “disrespectful” toward her and other members of their family.
At about 3 p.m., the argument spilled out into the parking lot, continuing as the mother and son entered her vehicle, authorities said.
But then the dispute developed further, and as the son exited the vehicle, his mother followed him, and she allegedly fired a single gunshot, striking him in the thigh, according to law enforcement.
Police responded to the scene to find a man lying on the ground and bleeding from his left thigh, according to the report. First responders cared for the victim until he was brought to an area hospital and listed as in stable condition.
Smith, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found.
She had reportedly fled the scene after the shooting, though Miami police officers tracked her down later that day.
The defendant gave a statement saying she acted in self-defense because her son threatened to assault her after he refused to leave her vehicle, according to WPLG. She claimed she feared for her safety, alluding to past behavior from her son.
The shooting victim, whose age is unclear, identified his mother as the person who shot him, and she was arrested.
