MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Miami Beach police are on the lookout for two armed carjackers who terrorized a father and son who simply wanted to go out and have a good time on the beach together.
Fifty-seven-year-old Luis Mercado and his son, 24-year-old Ramon Mercado, were visiting the area from Hollywood. The pair had left the Studio 23 nightclub, Wednesday night, and got in their car. Just as the son turned the car on, two men each armed with handguns appeared on either side of the car and ordered the men out.
“Coming out of this club last night and going over to the parking lot,” said the father, “and as soon as we opened the car, some car rode up on us and jumped out with guns … We were inside a square parking lot, with a wall. We were like the third car from the entrance to get out, so if I would have been by myself, I might have just ran around and dared them to shoot.”
But they were trapped, with nowhere to go. The younger Mercado hesitated to comply with the gunmen, both described as Hispanic men. “Told my son he had five seconds to get out of the car,” Luis Mercado said. “He wasn’t complying, so I wasn’t going to let him get shot. I screamed at him to get out of the damn car.”
At gunpoint, the crooks ordered the victims to empty their pockets. “They put it in my face, they put it in my son’s face,” said Luis Mercado.
The victims gave up cell phones and an 18 karat gold chain. “A more experienced crew would have robbed us,” said the father. “We were dead. We were in an enclosed parking lot … I didn’t think someone would be that brazen to jump out of their car and stick us up like that. I didn’t think anything like that would ever happen.”
Both suspects then entered the victims’ black 2015 Ford Escape with a tag number of YN18S and fled eastbound towards Collins Avenue on 23rd Street before traveling northbound on Collins.
Police also believe there is a third suspect who was driving a tan-colored sedan, possibly a Lincoln, with an unknown tag.
If you have any information on this carjacking, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $1,000 reward.
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