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Jun 22, 2008 9:44 am US/Eastern
Cabbie's Death Adds To North Miami's Record Year
NORTH MIAMI (CBS4) ―
The murder of a North Miami cabbie is the ninth homicide in the city since the beginning of the year.
North Miami police said officers had been dispatched to investigate reports of shots fired in the area of Northeast 134th Street and Northeast 4th Avenue early Saturday morning. As they were heading to that location, they received a second call that a cab driver had crashed into a tree.
Investigators said in examining cab they discovered that the driver, identified as 36-year old Failex Jean-Pierre had been shot several times. They speculated that he died from his gun shot wounds and not the ensuing crash.
Witnesses told police the cab smashed into a parked red SUV before it slammed into a tree in Jacque St. Louis' front yard.
"We not safe. We are not safe in this area," said Cludine Desir who lives in the neighborhood. "It hurts. I got a family. The same things could happen to my husband."
Police records show another cab driver was robbed in the area an hour before the cab driver was killed and investigators are checking to see if the two incidents are related.
"They are looking at the relationship between the two, other than they occurred around the same vicinity and both taxi cab drivers were on duty and they happened within an hour of each other," said North Miami Lt. Neal Cuevas.
North Miami police said Jean-Pierre's death was the ninth in the city this year, last year at this time there had been only two murders. Investigators said many of this year's deaths have been drug related.
While the nation saw a slight decrease in homicides last year from 2006, some police departments in South Florida saw their numbers rise.
According to FBI statistics, police departments in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Coral Springs, Hialeah, Hollywood and Miramar all reported more homicides in 2007 compared to 2006; most also reported an increased number of rapes and robberies.
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