MIAMI – Nearly 12 years after 16-year-old Bryan Herrera was shot and killed while riding his bicycle three days before Christmas, Miami detectives have made an arrest in the cold case.
Adrian Oneal Grimes, 30, known as “Peanut” or “Nut,” is facing charges of first-degree murder and armed robbery with a firearm.
The Miami man has been an inmate at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center for a drug offense, and on Wednesday Judge Maria Elena Verde-Yanez denied bond.
Miami-Dade Jail
Bryan Herrera’s death in Allapattah
On Dec. 22, 2012, the teen was riding his bicycle to a friend’s house to do group homework when he was shot and killed at Northwest 11th Avenue and Northwest 39th Street, in Allapattah. He was robbed of an Android cellphone.
Police responded at 11:04 a.m. and fire rescue took him to Ryder Trauma Center where he died two hours later.
Loved ones passed out flyers and were joined on Dec. 27, 2012, by then Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.
No clues or motive were uncovered.
“MPD exhausted each and every lead and tip provided, yielding no results,” according to the arrest affidavit.
In 2019, the family made a new appeal to the public.
“We need somebody to come forward and say something and be willing to testify,” his mother Anabel Herrera said then to CBS News Miami. “That’s the most important thing. Somebody had to see something. He was only a boy. He was only 16. He was not a man. He was a kid and he deserved to live and to enjoy life. We need to get the person out there.”
An anonymous tip led to a break in the case
Nestor Amores, assigned to the Cold Case Squad, got that break this summer.
A person only identified as “Mr. W.” came forward.
On June 24, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office received an unsolicited call from an attorney that his client had information on the murder.
Amores spoked to the witness on July 11.
“At the meeting, Mr. W.W. states that he was driving to a relative’s residence when he turned southbound onto Northwest 11th Avenue and 39th Street and noticed two people, a black male, and a hispanic male, in a struggled with each other,” Amores said.
The witness identified the male as Herrera from a single photo.
Mr. W.W. said he tried to stop the struggle by “mentioning the proximity to Christmas and asking, ‘can we just get along?’,” according to the arrest report.
Then, the witness said he heard the victim mouthing the words “I’m being robbed” as he saw a gun pointed at the victim.
Mr. W.W. decided not to intervene and instead waited in his car.
“Mr. W.W. saw the victim attempt to get out of the black male’s grasp when Mr. W.W. heard a gunshot,” according to the arrest report.
The man fled the scene on a bicycle.
The witness then went to the home of a neighbor, Ernest Sidney, who had earlier confirmed he called 911 requesting help for the the victim.
Mr. W.W. said he knew the shooter as “Peanut” or “Nut” and said Grimes was recently incarcerated at the Federal Detention Center. The witness said he knew this because they were both there facing drug charges.
The witness identified Grimes due to a particular facial feature: he was missing an eye after allegedly taking part in another shooting and from “several years ago on images when he wasn’t missing the eye”.
The arrest report didn’t explain why the witness took so long to come forward.
In Miami, Grimes was serving in county jail a sentence of cocaine sale imposed Oct. 29 for three years. He also has served prison time for various drug offenses between 2014 and 2018.
Some closure for Bryan Herrera’s family
“It’s horrible,” Anabel Herrera said in 2012. “It’s ongoing. It’s something you never get over. It’s something you have to relive over and over in your head and know there is no arrest. It doesn’t make it any easier.”
She said her son was a straight A student at Miami Jackson Senior High School.
“He loved video games,” she said. “He was going to go into robotics. He had a great future ahead of him. He was going to be anything he wanted to be.”
“He was doing nothing wrong and someone shot him once and killed him instantly,” said Miami police spokeswoman, Officer Kenia Fallat.