MIRAMAR, FLA. (WSVN) - The families of two slain South Florida teenagers are pleading for the public’s help to find the person who shot their sons.
Jermel Joseph, 18, and Phil Nelson, 19, were in a car on Miramar Parkway and Oakland Drive when, police said, another car pulled up and began firing.
Miramar Police believe the target of the shooting, on Aug. 19, was the driver of the car, 19-year-old Michael Hanchard. Hanchard survived the shooting.
Miramar Police Detective Joe Tomlin said they believe someone has information, but no one has come forward. “We don’t want this case to go cold, and so far we’ve gotten very little information from the public and from the peers of these three guys,” Tomlin said, Thursday. “We’re hoping to plead with them to gather some information, to ask them to do the right thing and come give us something.”
Sasha Joseph, Joseph’s mother, said her son wasn’t involved in any trouble. He had just graduated from high school when he was killed. “I refuse to speak of him in the past tense,” she said. “My son was loving. He was the kindest kid you would meet. My son has never been in trouble.”
Nelson was living with aunt Murielle Frank when the shooting occurred. She urged anyone with information to come forward. “You gotta say something and not hold it, not keep it,” she said.
Martine Nelson, another aunt, said she and Frank struggle with the loss nightly. “We haven’t been able to sleep. We keep each other company at night,” she said.
Tomlin said the families’ pain has been gut-wrenching.
Joseph’s mother held a picture of her son from June. “This is my son, on June 5, the day he graduated Flanagan High School,” she said. “My son was a straight-A student. These people took him from me four days before he was set to start college.”
If you have any information on this shooting, call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $3,000 reward.
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