FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A 25-year-old man suspected of driving drunk at nearly 100 mph when he caused a chain reaction crash in Miami Gardens, killing a woman and three children, was booked into jail.
Records show Hollywood police arrested Antonio Wilcox Jr. on Tuesday and booked him into the Broward County Main Jail. He had been taken to a hospital in the county following Saturday’s crash.
The deadly wreck happened just before 6 p.m. at Northwest 170th Street and 37th Avenue.
Miami Gardens police said Wilcox, of Naples, was speeding in a Kia Sorento and accelerating when he plowed into a white Nissan Altima with eight people inside. The sedan then crashed into a gray Cadillac Escalade.
Rosa Jones, 51, and three of her grandchildren, 8-year-old Azaria McCall and 10-year-olds Kamari Graham and Ireanna Johnson, were killed in the Altima.
Local 10 News spoke with Wilcox’s aunt, Kim Faulk, on Wednesday. Faulk, who lives in Kissimmee, said her nephew was in Miami for his grandfather’s funeral.
She said her family was devastated after hearing what happened and said their hearts go out to the victims’ families. Faulk said Wilcox was not in his right state of mind when this happened and suffers from mental health issues, including schizophrenia.
Faulk said that her family has tried to get her nephew help over the years. She also argued Wilcox was not drunk at the time, despite what police have reported.
“Antonio started dealing with mental health (when) I think he was 18 or 19,” Faulk said via video call. “We as a family, we got together to help Antonio, to try to figure things out with different (unintelligible due to call breakup). Antonio told us he was hearing voices.”
According to Collier County records, Wilcox was arrested for criminal mischief five years ago, and a battery charge against him was dismissed in 2022.
He is now facing four counts of vehicular homicide. He will be transferred to a Miami-Dade County jail, where he will likely face more charges.