Police have identified the man who they said caused a fatal car accident while trying to elude police in a stolen car.
Deandre Diaz, 22, was arrested after police said he sped away from undercover detectives Monday and slammed into another car driven by Andre Leon, 20.
"I can't explain it because it don't feel real. I can't believe it my own self," said Leon's sister, Monique McKeller.
One second sooner or later, and Leon's family wouldn't be on the news Tuesday. They wouldn't be talking about his dreams of going to college, and they wouldn't be hurting for the 1-year-old daughter he leaves behind.
"Yeah, just 20," said Leon's grandmother, Mattie Williams, as she choked back tears.
But, the timing could not have been worse. As Leon and a friend traveled south on Northwest 17th Avenue on Monday, they were hit broadside at the intersection of Northwest 83rd Street by a black Cadillac that barreled through the intersection. It was a stolen car that police were trying to stop, Miami-Dade police said.
"Now we have to suffer the loss because of something that wasn't involved with them. It's a lot of grieving. We just ask that you pray for the family and keep us in your heart," said relative Shalonda Williams.
Police said Diaz stole the Cadillac at gunpoint from a couple in March. Undercover officers stopped the vehicle but then said Diaz hit the gas and tried to run them over. Detectives opened fire on the black car as it sped away and crossed Northwest 17th Avenue, right into the path of Leon and his friend, a 19-year-old woman who police have not yet identified. She was listed as "clinically dead" in the police report.
"My brother, he was the type of driver, he watched everything. He watched everything," said McKeller.
Now, just steps away from porch of the home where Leon's older brother was killed last summer, relatives are reminded once again to cherish every single second.
"You can't take time for granted, you feel me? You got to love your loved ones while they are here, because you never knew when they're going to go. You know they're here, but you never know when they are going to leave," McKeller said.
Diaz faces charges of vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of a traffic crash with a death and serious bodily injury, armed robbery, armed carjacking, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and driving while license suspended with negligent operation and crash with death or serious injury.