Man arrested in Miami burglary where his grandfather was fatally shot in front of his granddaughter

MIAMI — Man arrested in Miami burglary that led to a grandfather shot dead in front of his granddaughter Thursday morning.

Miami City Police announced Friday that they arrested and charged Carlos Manuel Rosales, 38, with second-degree murder for the killing of Luciano Matute, 61, the arrest affidavit states.

On Thursday, around 8:31 a.m., Miami police were called to multiple reports of a man shot on the floor of an apartment building at 753 SW 5th St. When officers arrived, they found Matute lying on the floor. foot of a staircase and suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. He was transported to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he died.

During the investigation, officers spoke with Matute's granddaughter, who witnessed the incident. About 15 minutes before she was killed, Matute's granddaughter called her mother to tell her there was a stranger — later identified as Rosales — inside their apartment. The mother then called Matute, who was at a laundromat not far from the apartment. Matute then left the laundromat to go get and make sure her granddaughter was safe.

Security video near the apartment showed Matute arriving around 8:26 a.m. and starting to walk up the stairs to his apartment to find his granddaughter. Three minutes later, Matute is seen falling down the stairs and his granddaughter running towards him. Immediately afterwards, Rosales is seen running down the stairs and fleeing the building.

Other witnesses and other security video helped police track Rosales to Southwest 6th Street, where he was seen getting into a white Toyota Tundra and fleeing. A license plate reader was then able to track it down later Thursday afternoon at the intersection of Southwest 17th Avenue and 8th Street, where they confirmed the truck belonged to Rosales.

Police later later found the Tundra parked in front of 734 SW 4th St., where Rosales, another man and a woman were located. Shortly afterward, officers conducted a traffic stop of the vehicle and transported Rosales and the two others to the Miami Police Homicide Bureau for questioning, where he confessed to Matute's murder.

During the investigation, police also learned that Rosales was the granddaughter's step-uncle and the Special Victims Unit opened an additional investigation, unrelated to Rosales. After this investigation, he was also charged with lewd and lascivious assault of a child and exhibition of a child when it was revealed that he had also sexually assaulted his step-niece since 2022.