Rapper, 19, is Arrested After Two Men are Shot Dead in an Argument Over a Tight Parking Space

Two men were shot dead over an argument about a parking space in a crowded tourist spot during rowdy Memorial Day celebrations.

Rapper Jeffery Alexander, 19, has been accused of fatally shooting Ladarian Tyrell Phillips, 30, in the back in South Beach, Miami, on Sunday.

Jeffery Alexander

The brawl escalated after Alexander and three friends in a white BMW tried to parallel park in a tight spot along Ocean Drive – and struck a parked gold Buick Regal.

The driver inched forward and struck the car ‘a couple more times’ and then ‘began force pushing the Buick back in an attempt to move it’, according to the arrest warrant.

The Buick owner was standing across the road and ran over with another man to confront the other driver.

He asked the driver of the BMW ‘how many more times he was going to hit his vehicle’, sparking an argument.

The BMW’s driver then yelled at the Buick owner to ‘step the f*** back’, and handed a gun to Alexander, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, according to the report.

Police said Alexander fired three shots as the BMW pulled away from the parking space.

Mr Phillips, of Homestead, Florida, was fatally shot in the back and the Buick’s owner was shot in the leg, police said.

The BMW crashed into two police cars several blocks away, but it didn’t stop completely until confronted by two officers, who fired at it, said police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez.

One suspect in the car, who is unidentified, was shot and died at a hospital.

Three other suspects in the car were detained, including one apprehended by a K9 officer after fleeing the scene on foot, police said.

The Buick’s owner identified Alexander as the gunman, according to the arrest report.

Alexander was held without bond Monday at a Miami-Dade County jail on charges of second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder. Jail records didn’t show whether he had an attorney.

Miami-Dade Police will investigate the shooting involving the two officers, according to a Miami Beach Police policy requiring an outside agency to investigate shootings involving officers.

Both officers were placed on administrative leave, Rodriguez said.

Crowds packed South Beach for Memorial Day weekend events, including an air show featuring military jets speeding over the neighborhood’s famous beaches and Art Deco buildings.

Officials have said the events were proceeding calmly, though a Georgia man was arrested for allegedly firing a gun at an occupied taxi cab Saturday night in South Beach, wounding a passenger inside the vehicle.

In past years, the Memorial Day weekend was marked by mayhem leading to hundreds of arrests, while traffic jams overwhelmed the island city.

In 2011, a dozen officers fired more than 100 shots at a car on a crowded South Beach street, killing the driver and wounding four bystanders.

The next year, a naked man chewed off parts of a homeless man’s face during a struggle alongside a highway linking Miami Beach and downtown Miami. The homeless man survived, after police shot his attacker dead.