Miami

Teen Arrested in 2014 Shooting Death of Rabbi in North Miami Beach

Miami-Dade Police have arrested a teen in connection with the August 2014 shooting death of Rabbi Joseph Raksin.

Deandre Charles, 15, has been arrested in connection with the murder, police confirmed in a press release early Wednesday morning.

Charles is charged with first-degree murder and attempted robbery with a deadly weapon, jail records showed. He was being held without bond and it was unknown if he's hired an attorney.

Charles was arrested in the area of 183rd Street and Northwest 6th Avenue, officials said.

The Miami-Dade State Attorney held a news conference with Raksin's daughter Wednesday.

"We as a family publicly want to be perfectly clear that we want this vicious dog to be prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows," daughter Shuli Labkowski Raksin said.

"This fine team of lawyers went to the grand jury and indicted 15-year-old Deandre Edwin Charles as the gun man in this cold blooded murder," State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said.

Miami-Dade Police said 60-year-old Raksin was walking in the 800 block of Northeast 175th Street headed to his North Miami Beach temple when two young males approached him.

Raksin was shot during the altercation. He was airlifted to Jackson Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center where he died.

"His murder at the hands of the thugs has caused an emptiness and a void that cannot be replaced. He was a good, kind and caring father, and a wonderful individual whose life was cut short by a violent act," Labkowski expressed.

The neighborhood is in a heavily-populated orthodox Jewish community with 11 synagogues in the area.

Many synagogues ramped up security efforts in the wake of the shooting.

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