NORTH MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A man who, police said, shot a liquor store employee in North Miami-Dade has been arrested months after the incident.
Miami-Dade Police held a press conference Friday morning announcing the arrest of 34-year-old Norman Wright.
On hand at the news conference was the victim, Emmanuel Taylor. He shared his thoughts with the media for the first time since the ordeal.
“Seventy-one years young. No, I’m feeling pretty good,” he said.
The shooting occurred on Dec. 7 at Jensen’s Liquors, located on North Miami Avenue, just north of 79th Street.
According to investigators, Wright walked into the business just before 6 p.m. and demanded some sort of refund for merchandise he was returning.
When Taylor denied the refund, Wright allegedly grabbed a liquor bottle and tried to leave the store.
That is when Taylor stepped from behind the counter and approached Wright. Police said a struggle ensued between the two men inside the store, and moments later, it spilled into the parking lot of the business.
Security footage captured Wright as he fell. When he hit the ground, the video showed the flash from the firearm.
“There are so many guns out there on the street that, you know, anybody can get shot anywhere, at anytime, you know?” Taylor said. “Doesn’t matter where I am, you know? Or who I am.”
Taylor said he spent more than two months in the hospital.
“The funny thing was that I wasn’t in a lot of pain, no,” Taylor said. “I was in a lot of discomfort, only because I was in the hospital, I was intubated for like three weeks, but other than that, I was fine. Not a lot of pain.”
Detectives told 7News that they found Wright from a trail of evidence that he left behind at the crime scene.
Late Friday morning, Wright appeared before Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy S. Glazer. He was charged with armed robbery and attempted murder.
“I’m going to grant the state’s motion for pretrial detention and hold you with no bond,” said Glazer.
As for Taylor, he keeps a smile on his face and his head high, knowing that Wright is behind bars.
“Ecstatic. I’m happy that he got arrested because he could be doing it to somebody else,” he said. “We’ve got to get these people off the street.”
Wright has a previous criminal history that includes possession of cannabis and resisting an officer without violence. He remains at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in West Miami-Dade.
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