Background: A portion of Southwest 266th St in Naranja, Florida. Inset left: Deashia Smith (Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office). Inset right: Elton Hightower (Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office)
Months after a 20-year-old man was shot and killed in Miami-Dade County, Florida, authorities believe his younger sister was involved in the crime.
Deashia Smith, 17, and Elton Hightower, 19, both face the charge of second-degree murder with a deadly weapon in the death of Rae’quan Smith, according to a press release from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.
Rae’quan Smith was shot on Feb. 7 on Southwest 266th Street in Naranja, with deputies arriving at the scene of the crime just before midnight. When they got there, they said they learned the victim had been brought to a nearby hospital. He was later pronounced dead.
Deputies said that through their investigation, they learned that Hightower and Deashia Smith had fired shots “in the direction” of Rae’quan Smith and that Deashia Smith possessed a firearm that was “utilized in the homicide.” The two siblings are listed as having had the same address in Homestead, Florida, while Hightower is listed as residing in Florida City.
A criminal complaint reviewed by Law&Crime revealed that investigators discovered the weapon while executing a search warrant at Deashia Smith’s house. According to the complaint, her mother and sister both knew Deashia Smith owned the gun, but her mother told police that her daughter had “purposely hid the firearm from her.”
A witness reportedly told police that he had a “firsthand account” of the shooting.
“The witness advised that the defendant, Elton Hightower, and the co-defendant, Deashia Smith, saw the victim standing on the side of the street and both discharged their firearms toward the victim, then fled the scene,” the complaint says.
Deashia Smith and Hightower were arrested on Wednesday. The former was already in the nearby Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to local outlet WPLG.
