Police say the gunfire followed a fight near the main stage and left one man dead and two other people wounded.
MIAMI, FL — A 22-year-old North Miami Beach man has been arrested and charged after a shooting late Sunday at the Taste of Miami Karnival in Little Haiti killed one man and wounded two other people, police said.
The arrest came days after the gunfire cut through a festival meant to celebrate Caribbean culture near Northeast Second Avenue and Northeast 62nd Street. Investigators say the shooting was targeted, not tied to the event itself, but it shook a neighborhood gathering that drew families and heavy police presence. The case now centers on what sparked the fight, whether others involved will face charges and how prosecutors will handle a claim of self-defense made by the man in custody.
Police say the shooting happened just after 11:20 p.m. Sunday, near the end of the Second Annual Taste of Miami Karnival. Officers assigned to the event heard gunfire, and a ShotSpotter alert also picked it up near the main stage. When officers moved in, they found three people hit. One of them, 23-year-old Kitchner Cyrille, had been shot in the chest and was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where he died. A second man was found with multiple gunshot wounds and was hospitalized in critical condition. A woman who was shot in the legs was treated and later released. In the first hours after the violence, Miami Police Chief Manny Morales said the shooting appeared to be a targeted act and had “no connection to the festival whatsoever,” even though it unfolded in the middle of the event.
As detectives worked through witness accounts and video, the picture they described became more specific. Police spokesman Mike Vega said surveillance footage showed a fight in the crowd before the gunfire. He told local reporters the images showed “some sort of fight” and a scuffle between two men before the shooter pulled a gun and opened fire. Investigators later said the same footage showed associates of the suspect going through Cyrille’s pockets as he lay on the ground before they blended back into the crowd. Police have not publicly said what, if anything, was taken. They also have not publicly identified the second wounded man or the woman who was struck. One unresolved point is how many people, beyond the gunman, may have played a role in the confrontation that came just before the shooting.
Detectives said video from the area did more than capture the fight. It also helped them track the suspected shooter’s movements before and after the attack. According to the arrest form, cameras showed a black Dodge Charger in the area before the shooting, and license plate readers later helped police follow that lead. Investigators said the suspect returned to a nearby parking lot after the shots were fired, paced near the car, got inside with others and left. Officers later found the Dodge Charger at a home in Pembroke Pines and began surveillance there. On Thursday, police followed the car through parts of Broward and Miami-Dade counties before making a felony traffic stop just before 11:45 a.m. Authorities detained Jamesly Mezime and two other people, then took all three to the homicide office for questioning. Police have not announced charges against anyone else.
Mezime, 22, was later booked into jail on one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. Police identified Cyrille as the man who died. At bond court Friday, a judge ordered Mezime held without bond, according to local reports, and also ordered him to stay away from the surviving victims if he is released. Investigators have said Mezime gave a statement after his arrest. In that account, described in local coverage of the arrest report, he said someone pushed or tugged him from behind in the crowd, that one man punched him in the face, and that another man in a blue hoodie reached toward his waistband for a gun. Mezime said he fired in self-defense and ran. Witness accounts cited by police point in a different direction. Vega said investigators had been told the dispute may have involved an ex-girlfriend the men once had in common. That possible motive has not been laid out in court in full, and police have not released a more detailed probable-cause narrative beyond what local outlets described from the arrest paperwork.
The shooting left behind a very different image from the one festival organizers and families expected. Cellphone and surveillance video showed people sprinting away from the main stage, some grabbing children as they ran. Shoes and clothing were left scattered on the pavement as paramedics and officers moved in. Supa Cindy, one of the event hosts, told local television that the crowd had felt safe before the shots because officers were visible throughout the area. A witness who spoke to Local 10 said she first heard two shots, turned, and saw a young man lying on the ground unresponsive as people rushed in every direction. For Cyrille’s family, the public scene quickly became private grief. His aunt, Chrislyne Brumaire-Florence, said the family had gone to the event as part of a Little Haiti tradition and was now trying to adjust to what she called “a nightmare.” She described her nephew as a Miami Edison Senior High School graduate who loved track and said his death had left a hole in the family.
The case stood Saturday with Mezime jailed at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and the homicide investigation still active. The next milestones are the continued court proceedings on the murder and attempted murder charges and any decision by detectives or prosecutors on whether others seen on video will also be charged.
Author note: Last updated April 18, 2026.