Jacob Alexander Zamora, an 18-year-old White/Caucasian male, was fatally shot on the afternoon of July 11, 2023, in Miami Gardens, Florida. Police said Zamora was riding a skateboard near Northwest 167th Street and Northwest 17th Avenue, close to the Palmetto Expressway, when an encounter developed between him and the driver of a white car. Early reports described an argument that escalated before the shooting, while details later disclosed in an arrest report provided investigators’ account
of how the confrontation unfolded.
According to the arrest report described by multiple South Florida news outlets, surveillance footage showed Zamora skateboarding across the roadway and apparently either grabbing the rear of the passing vehicle or tapping it. Investigators said Zamora then crossed in front of the car and the driver swerved the vehicle toward him. Additional footage reportedly showed Zamora moving backward while holding his skateboard in front of his body as the armed driver advanced toward him. Police said the gunman pointed a firearm at Zamora and fired, striking him in the torso. Zamora collapsed at the scene. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue transported him by helicopter to HCA Florida Aventura Hospital, where he died from his injuries.
Investigators recovered Zamora’s skateboard, cellphone and other personal belongings at the scene, along with a spent 9mm cartridge casing. Witnesses and surveillance recordings became central to identifying the suspected shooter. One motorist who witnessed the confrontation called 911 and provided authorities with the license plate number of the white vehicle associated with the gunman. Police traced the car to Miami Gardens resident Rashad Bernard White.
Officers located and stopped White’s vehicle on the same day as the shooting, but White was not driving it at that point. According to the arrest report, another man was behind the wheel and told investigators that White had asked him to drive the car to White’s home while White left using the other man’s bicycle. Police recovered a Glock 9mm handgun equipped with an extended magazine from the vehicle. Photographs and surveillance images released during the investigation showed the shooter carrying what appeared to be a handgun with an extended magazine.
White and his attorney went to the police station on July 12, 2023, the day after the killing. Investigators confiscated White’s shoes as evidence because authorities believed they were consistent with footwear visible in recordings of the shooting. He was not arrested at that time and was released while detectives continued building the case. Police subsequently obtained cellphone-location evidence that they said placed White’s phone in the area of the shooting at the relevant time and showed the phone leaving the area afterward.
For months, Miami Gardens police publicly sought information about the gunman. Investigators initially released images of the unidentified suspect and asked members of the public for help identifying him. The case remained under investigation until detectives obtained additional evidence linking White to the shooting. A significant development came when the man who had been driving White’s vehicle after the killing was interviewed again in April 2024. Police said that witness identified White as the man seen in the surveillance footage and also recognized the shooter’s shoes as belonging to White.
On May 16, 2024, nearly ten months after Zamora was killed, police arrested Rashad Bernard White, then 34, in connection with the shooting. Authorities charged him with second-degree murder and use of a firearm while committing a felony. Police said White declined to answer detectives’ questions after he was taken into custody. At the time news organizations reported the arrest on May 17, White was being held without bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
The publicly available reporting located for this synopsis establishes White’s arrest and the charges filed against him but does not provide a reliably documented subsequent trial verdict, conviction, acquittal, plea agreement or final sentence. Accordingly, White should be regarded as the accused defendant in the case unless and until a court disposition establishes otherwise.
