Left inset: Dustin Wakefield (GoFundMe). Right inset: Tamarius Davis (Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation). Background: The sidewalk café in Miami, Florida, where Dustin Wakefield was shot and killed by Tamarius Davis while protecting his son (WPLG/YouTube).
A Florida man has been sentenced to decades behind bars for killing a father who intervened to protect his 1-year-old son. The gunman approached a sidewalk café, pointed a pistol at the child and said, “It’s time to die,” before the boy’s father stepped between them.
Tamarius Davis, 27, received a 50-year prison sentence followed by 25 years of probation on Thursday for the killing of 21-year-old Colorado tourist Dustin Wakefield in Miami.
Wakefield “stood up between the gunman and the baby” before Davis opened fire, according to Wakefield’s family, who spoke with the Miami Herald after the August 2021 shooting.
“This guy came in with a gun waving it, saying it’s time to die,” Wakefield’s uncle, Mike Wakefield, told the newspaper. “He pointed the gun at his son and Dustin said, ‘He’s only a boy.’”
Davis, who was 22 when the shooting occurred, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in May. Wakefield’s uncle said Davis shot him “multiple times” as he lay on the ground.
An arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime stated that Wakefield was shot at least once in the head. Several witnesses saw the attack and identified Davis as the shooter.
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“I know that he decidedly chose to lay his life down and protect people even in that place of being shot, because more people could have died that day,” Wakefield’s mother, Lora Wakefield, told local NBC affiliate KUSA after Davis entered his guilty plea. “He was not only a hero of my grandbaby but a hero of many around him.”
Court documents allege that Davis was “high on mushrooms, which made him feel empowered,” when the shooting took place. Wakefield was dining with his family at a sidewalk café in the 1400 block of Ocean Drive.
Davis told police that he had “randomly chosen” the Wakefield family.
“I forgive the guy, but I also believe in consequences to the choices that you make,” Lora Wakefield said. “You just can’t take a life. You took my son’s life, you gave him no mercy, so I believe he needs to do life in prison.”
The judge who sentenced Davis said she had sought a punishment that provided accountability while leaving “some hope, even though it may be small,” according to local Fox and ABC affiliate WSVN. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, while Davis’s defense team argued for a term of no more than 25 years, WSVN reported.
“Each and every one of you said that anything less than a life sentence was not justice and yet you all understand that nothing will bring your son back,” Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Laura Stuzin said.
Defense attorney Juan Mourin told WSVN, “This is a case that was not going to have a happy ending for anybody no matter what.”
