HOUSTON – A man wanted for shooting and killing his girlfriend in northwest Miami-Dade over the weekend was apprehended while on the run with two other people in Texas, deputies announced Wednesday. They said they also arrested his getaway driver here in South Florida.
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Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies said Elijah Clarke, 19, of Miami Gardens, went to the home of his 20-year-old girlfriend, Delilah Ruiz, in the county’s unincorporated Country Club area on Saturday.
Authorities said after arriving at the residence in the 18900 block of Northwest 63rd Court Circle, the two began arguing over money. They said Clarke then shot Ruiz just before 8 p.m. and got into a vehicle driven by his friend, 19-year-old Christopher Valdes; the two then took off.
After deputies responded, medics took Ruiz across the county line to Memorial Regional Hospital, where she was pronounced dead despite lifesaving efforts.
The MDSO Homicide Street Violent Task Force — with help from Broward deputies and Miramar police — located Valdes, of Miami Gardens, and took him into custody Monday. He was booked into the Broward County jail on a charge of accessory after the fact.
On Tuesday, cops in the Lone Star State captured Clarke. Deputies said Houston police officers spotted him along with two other people, 19-year-old Rafael Torralba and 17-year-old Angelina Valledor, and took them into custody.
Torralba and Valledor are facing Texas charges of hindering apprehension and prosecution of a case.
Records show Clarke was being held in a Harris County Sheriff’s Office jail facility in Houston as an out-of-state fugitive. He’s set to face a murder charge upon his return to South Florida.