A walk that only should’ve taken 16 minutes for a group of friends resulted in the death of bright, young, 15-year-old Kayla Rincon Miller. Miller was a sophomore taking FLVS classes and a past student at Cape Coral High School.
On Sunday, March 17, 2024, at approximately 9:39 PM, Cape Coral Police Department officers were called to a shooting on 2000 SE 16th Pl. According to the caller, three female minors were walking, one of whom got shot by a person in a vehicle which later fled through SE 16th place.
Once the officers arrived on the scene they gave aid to the gunshot victim until the EMT arrived, where she was transported to a local hospital as a trauma alert. The gunshot victim was later pronounced dead.
“Detectives are investigating leads,” said Lisa Greenberg, CCPD’s Public Information Specialist. “They’ve looked at surveillance videos from the area and ultimately they’ve been investigating. Of course, we can identify the victim as 15-year-old Kayla Rincon Miller the teen who was shot and killed in the shooting.”
The three females had just watched a movie at the Coralwood Marquee Cinemas and were on their way to McDonald’s on Del Prado Blvd. While on their way a car pulled up, blinding them with their lights, and in an attempted robbery one person shot Miller in the chest.
Two days after the shooting, a suspect, 16-year-old Thomas Roy Stein, was arrested and charged with principal to a murder while engaged in a robbery.
According to Newspress, “Jail records indicate Stein is due in court April 8 for his arraignment.”
The car that the suspects were driving was later identified as a Silver Nissan Pathfinder rented by Stein’s mother. Currently, the investigation remains open and law enforcement is working to identify and locate the other suspects in the vehicle.
“I think I just want to stress that anyone who has information at all related to this, maybe they saw something ours before related to the victim or the suspect, in this case, please come forward,” asked Greenberg. “We’re talking about a 15-year-old whose life was lost and it’s important not just to us or our community, that the people responsible are held accountable.”
For anonymous tips, people can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS. Anybody can also reach out to the CCPD at 239-574-2332.
Throughout the investigation, CCPD has collaborated with other law agencies. CCPD has jurisdiction over this crime because it occurred in Cape Coral, however, anything beyond the city falls under the jurisdiction of the Lee County Sheriff”s Office. CCPD worked alongside the Sheriff’s office to arrest Thomas Stein, as he did not live within Cape Coral.
“That’s why we had to collaborate with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office to execute a search warrant on that home and to make the arrest of Thomas Stein because it happened outside of the City of Cape Coral,” explained Greenberg
“The Lee County Sheriff’s Office assisted the Cape Coral Police Department with several aspects of this investigation,” stated Anita Iriarte, Captain of the public affairs Unit of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. “Our agency will continue to provide support as requested by not only the CCPD, but any law enforcement agencies.”
The detectives believe that this was not a random act of violence, although the reason why they believe that has not been yet released to the public.
“We’ve been hearing a lot of ‘our community is so unsafe, three girls can’t even walk from the movies to the McDonald’s without getting hurt or being killed,’” said Greenberg. “And so that’s why we wanted to make sure we release the information that we do not believe this was a random act of violence.”
Sympathetic Cape Coral citizens have created a memorial at the site of the shooting, with people leaving flowers and more in remembrance of Miller. A vigil was also held at Jaycee Park on March 24, and Miller’s Funeral, which was open to the public occurred on March 28th.
