RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — A 14-year-old boy now faces a first-degree murder charge after police said he fatally shot a man in Riviera Beach last month.
Online jail records show the teen was booked at the Palm Beach County jail on Monday night. He appeared before a judge Tuesday morning and is being held without bond.
The shooting took place on May 19, just after 10 p.m.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Riviera Beach's ShotSpotter System registered two gunshots in the 300 block of RJ Hendley Avenue, followed by four additional shots in the 1400 block of West 30th Street.
When officers arrived at the scene on the night of the shooting, they found a Nissan Altima crashed in a yard along West 30th Street. Inside the vehicle was Noelsaint Gulesaint, 32, of Riviera Beach, who was dead from multiple gunshot wounds.
The affidavit said officers later found a bicycle lying in a yard that was near a metal fence that had "fresh damages." Investigators also found in the bushes, near the bike, a piece of a car that had been dislodged.
Investigators said they later interviewed a witness the night of the shooting who spotted a "kid, short in stature" in the area who was armed with a gun in his hand.
The witness told police he saw the teen walk up to the victim's car door with the gun and heard the suspect say, "Man, you almost hit me with your car."
According to the witness, the suspect and the victim "appeared to have gotten into a tussle for the firearm," the arrest report said. "The suspect was able to gain control of the firearm and shot the victim in the car."
The arrest report said that after Gulesaint was shot, his vehicle rolled down the road before coming to a rest in the 1400 block of West 30th Street.
The witness also told police that the suspect "then shot a few more times at the vehicle while the victim was on the ground, ultimately killing the victim" before fleeing the scene on foot.
Investigators said video footage they obtained showed the 14-year-old boy riding the same bicycle earlier that night, which was later found in the yard near the shooting.
Police said there were multiple reports of the boy missing, which prompted them to actively search for him. Detectives said the suspect also had an outstanding warrant for his arrest for a previous incident.
TEEN LOCATED 6 DAYS LATER
On May 25, an officer on patrol spotted a boy who matched the description of the teen walking southbound on RJ Hendley Avenue. When police made contact with the 14-year-old, the arrest report said the child was armed with a Black Taurus semi-automatic 9mm handgun that was loaded with seven rounds in the magazine and one round in the chamber.
Police later took the teen into custody on the outstanding warrant.
While being interviewed, the boy told detectives he was riding his bicycle on May 19 when a red vehicle began driving at a high rate of speed toward him with no lights.
The teen said he "got scared" and rode his bike in a nearby driveway located on West 30th Street.
"(The suspect) said the male driving the red vehicle drove the car into him, and he flew off the bicycle and landed on the pavement," the affidavit said.
The boy told police said he was scared that the man driving the car was trying to kill him, so he shot at the driver's side window twice.
The teen told police that the gun jammed, so he racked the slide to chamber a round. According to the affidavit, the suspect told police that the driver reversed the vehicle as if you was going to hit him again before the vehicle drove to West 30th Street.
The teen told police he ran after the vehicle, where he shot the victim four more times before fleeing the area, according to the arrest report.
After he heard that the man he had shot died, the boy told police he burned the hooded sweatshirt and other clothing he was wearing at the time of the incident.
The 14-year-old also told police that he did not know Gulesaint; therefore, he "cannot have remorse for someone he does not know."
The boy faces one count of first-degree murder and one count of a delinquent in possession of a firearm.
