Angelo Crooms & Sincere Pierce

Angelo “AJ” Crooms, 16, and Sincere Pierce, 18, were shot and killed by Brevard County, Florida Sheriff's Deputy Jafet Santiago-Miranda on November 13, 2020, in a Cocoa driveway during an attempted stop of a car deputies believed, based on a report that later proved incorrect, had been stolen. Dashcam video showed the deputy approaching with his gun drawn, repeatedly yelling for the car to stop; Crooms, who was driving, backed up slightly then drove forward, and the deputy opened fire, killing both teens. A third occupant survived uninjured. The family's attorneys said the video showed the car moving away from the deputy, not toward him, and that deputies never confirmed the car was actually stolen before drawing weapons. Brevard County State Attorney Phil Archer announced in April 2021 — the day after Derek Chauvin's murder conviction — that no charges would be filed. No one has ever been charged in either teen's death.

Cocoa, FL · Brevard County

• 2020: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The attempted stop, the deputy's drawn weapon and verbal commands, and the shooting, per Brevard County Sheriff's Office dashcam video released publicly.
• The car deputies pursued had been reported as possibly stolen; it was later established that report was incorrect, and the vehicle had been loaned to the teens by a family friend, per the family's attorneys.
• Deputy Santiago-Miranda had previously been placed on administrative leave months earlier after allegedly threatening a person his wife was reportedly having an affair with, telling them they needed to “wear a bulletproof vest,” per records reviewed by Florida Today.
• The Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigated and presented findings to the State Attorney's Office; State Attorney Phil Archer announced on April 21, 2021 that no criminal charges would be filed against the deputy.
• Two guns were found in the car; the sheriff's office said it could not confirm who they belonged to or whether they were stolen, and the surviving third occupant was interviewed and released without charges.
• Sincere Pierce's mother was accidentally shot and wounded by a 16-year-old attendee's discharging firearm during Pierce's own burial service on November 28, 2020, an unrelated tragedy that compounded the family's grief; his gravesite was separately vandalized months later.

• Whether Crooms's car was in fact accelerating toward the deputy in a manner presenting a deadly threat, as the sheriff's office maintained, or moving away as the family's attorneys argued from the same dashcam footage, was never resolved at any criminal trial.
• Why deputies approached the vehicle with weapons already drawn before confirming whether it was in fact stolen has not been fully explained in any official public accounting.
• The full extent of Deputy Santiago-Miranda's prior disciplinary history beyond the reported administrative leave incident has not been made comprehensively public.

• Fox 35 Orlando — “State Attorney: Criminal charges won't be filed against Brevard County deputy who fatally shot two teens”
• Click Orlando (WKMG) — “Sheriff: Brevard deputy 'forced to fire,' fatally shooting 2 teens in car”
• Yahoo News / AP — “Benjamin Crump demands justice after a Florida deputy shot two Black teens”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs