A Miami man killed an armed teen in self-defense. Why he’s still facing a criminal case
When Christopher Luis pulled up to a West Kendall bank drive-thru ATM earlier this year, police say he was confronted by three gun-wielding robbers. Luis himself was armed. A firefight erupted.
Moment later, one of the armed robbers, 16-year-old Nimikae Clarke, lay mortally wounded on the ground. Luis, himself wounded in the arm and hand, got out, kept firing, took Nimikae’s gun and drove off.
Miami-Dade prosecutors have now ruled that Luis, 24, was legally justified and acted in self-defense for shooting Nimikae in the initial gunfight on Feb. 13. But Luis isn’t escaping a criminal charge.
In a strange twist, police say, Luis returned to the scene minutes later — and from inside his truck, fired 10 more times at Nimikae as he lay dying on the ground, using the teen’s own handgun. Luis surrendered Thursday to face a charge of aggravated battery with a firearm against Nimikae.
Luis is not being charged with murder. The reason, according to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, is because the Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that two fatal bullets from the initial shooting were the ones that killed Nimikae.
“Consequently, Christopher Luis is being charged with aggravated battery with a firearm, which is a second-degree felony, and not murder or manslaughter, because Luis was legally justified in returning fire in the first incident under Florida’s self-defense law,” spokesman Ed Griffith said.
Luis’ defense attorney, Douglas Rudman, declined to address specifics of the shooting. But he criticized the arrest.
“This entire incident constitutes a valid use of self-defense,” said Rudman, of Boca Raton. “We firmly believe he is innocent. He’s a good kid who found himself at the wrong end of a gun. He got shot, and survives and they turn around and charge the victim. It makes no sense.”
Nimikae’s cohorts, Stanley Clark, 18, and D’Angelo Davis, 17, are also facing charges.
Clarke has been charged with armed robbery, attempted murder and felony murder — because he is alleged to have participated in the crime that led to his friend’s death. Under Florida law, anyone who participates in a violent crime, in this case armed robbery, can be charged with felony murder if it leads to a death.
Davis remains a fugitive, and will face the same charges.
The criminal cases fill in details on what had been a shooting shrouded in mystery.
Nimikae had been in and out of the juvenile justice system on charges for years — at age 12, he was arrested in robbery case that resulted in a police car chase and the lockdown of a school in Southwest Miami-Dade. He had just been released from a detention center days before the February shooting.
An Instagram video posted on Feb. 4 by the community group Circle of Brotherhood showed Nimikae and his mother, Nikia Moss, after he was released from juvenile detention. In the video, he said he wanted to get a job so he could take care of his mother.
The shooting happened outside the BB&T Bank, 8701 SW 137th Ave., at about 8:30 p.m. Luis — who had a valid concealed weapons permit and no criminal history — had driven up in a white pick-up truck to withdraw some cash.
According to an arrest warrant, Nimikae and Davis, both wielding guns, walked up to the truck, while Stanley Clark remained hidden behind a small wall that divided the bank from the street. Exactly who fired first remains unclear, although under Florida’s Stand Your Ground self-defense law, someone does not have wait to be fired upon to defend themselves from a deadly threat.
Davis and Clark, from behind the wall, also fired. Both ran away from the scene as their friend collapsed to the ground with wounds to the chest. Wounded, Luis got out of his truck, took Nimikae’s gun, got back in his truck and drove off.
Exactly why Luis drove back to the bank four minutes later is unclear. He pulled into the ATM lane and watched for another minute, according to the warrant. Nimikae’s hands “were visible, and he was not in possession of any weapon,” the warrant said. “[Nimkae] was alive.”
Luis then fired 10 more times at Nimikae. “However, none of those shots were fatal,” said Griffith, the State Attorney’s spokesman.
As he fired, Luis was on the phone with someone, claiming that he was being “shot at” by the attackers, police said. But Miami-Dade homicide Detective Zubair Kahn, in his arrest warrant, noted that the shooting of the incapacitated teen was captured on bank surveillance video.
The video has yet to be released to the public.
Luis called 911 and waited for police and paramedics to arrive. Nimikae was pronounced dead at the scene. Luis gave his account of what happened to homicide detectives, and was later released to await the outcome of the probe.
