Tamarius Blair Davis admitted charges tied to a fatal shooting, a threatened child and a second target.
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Court records and witness accounts now frame the final stage of the Miami Beach case against Tamarius Blair Davis, who admitted killing Dustin Wakefield outside an Ocean Drive restaurant during a public family dinner on South Beach.
Davis, 27, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and child abuse. The plea resolved the question of guilt but left sentencing open. The record describes three connected harms: Wakefield’s death, a shot fired toward another man and the danger to Wakefield’s 1-year-old son. That structure gives the sentencing judge a record that is broader than one fatal shot and centered on a family vacation that became a public crime scene.
The arrest report described Davis as a 22-year-old man from Norcross, Georgia, when the shooting happened on Aug. 24, 2021. Wakefield was 21 and visiting from Castle Rock, Colorado. He was seated with his wife, Karina Wakefield, and their son, Eli, outside La Cerveceria de Barrio at 1412 Ocean Drive. Police said Davis approached the patio with a gun and randomly decided to shoot Wakefield. No public report has shown any prior relationship, dispute or contact between the men before the encounter. The report placed the family at a sidewalk restaurant in a busy tourist corridor, not in a private meeting or dispute. That location matters because the evidence was formed by several types of observers, including police, witnesses, family members and people who recorded what happened nearby. It also matters because the record describes Wakefield as a stranger to Davis, making the random nature of the attack one of the core facts before the court.
The child abuse count came from what police said happened before the fatal gunfire. Detectives said Davis pointed the weapon toward Eli, who was 1. Wakefield stepped between Davis and the boy, according to police and family accounts. Karina Wakefield later said she heard her husband plead, “Please, I have a son. He’s just a boy.” Other accounts said Wakefield asked Davis not to shoot his son because the child was only a baby. The child survived, but the threat to him became a separate charge. The sequence matters because it connects the child abuse count to Wakefield’s death. The record does not treat Eli only as a witness who was present. It treats him as a child placed in danger before his father was shot. Family members have said Wakefield’s movement between the gun and the boy explains his final act. That account has remained steady from the first public reports through the later guilty plea.
The second-degree murder count covered the fatal shooting that followed. Police said Davis shot Wakefield shortly before 6:30 p.m. in an outdoor dining area along one of Miami Beach’s busiest streets. Witnesses reported screams and panic after the shots. One account said Davis appeared to celebrate near Wakefield’s body, a detail that became part of the public horror around the case. The shooting took place in a corridor where pedestrians, restaurant workers, diners and hotel guests shared the same sidewalk. The setting added to the force of the record. Ocean Drive is known for patio dining, hotels, neon fronts and visitors walking close to the tables. The shooting happened in that shared space rather than behind closed doors. For witnesses, the scene moved from dinner traffic to panic in seconds. For investigators, the public location meant there were accounts from people who had no connection to either Davis or Wakefield before the attack.
The attempted murder count came from a second part of the same episode. Police said Davis fired toward another man near the Winter Haven hotel entrance, though the man was not hit. A bystander video showed a man with a gun moving near Ocean Drive while people nearby reacted in fear. That recording did not answer every question about motive, but it helped show the movement of the armed suspect and the danger that spread across the public block. The second alleged target showed why prosecutors did not bring only a murder charge. Police said the other man escaped injury, but the gunfire toward him created another count and another victim in the case. The video and witness accounts also gave prosecutors a way to describe Davis’ conduct across the wider area, from the restaurant patio toward the hotel entrance, before officers took him into custody.
The record also includes Davis’ statement after his arrest. Police said he told investigators he had taken mushrooms and felt empowered. His father later said Davis had traveled to Miami Beach with friends and had no known history of trouble or mental health problems. Those details have shaped public discussion of the case, but they did not change the charges Davis admitted. The guilty plea means he accepted criminal responsibility without requiring jurors to decide whether those statements affected his guilt. The statement about mushrooms has remained one of the most cited details in the file because it offers context without providing a complete motive. Police still described the shooting as random. Public accounts have not shown any evidence that Wakefield provoked Davis or even spoke with him before the threat began. The guilty plea narrowed the legal question by accepting the charges and leaving the remaining dispute for sentencing.
The case took nearly five years to reach that plea. Davis remained jailed without bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center while the file moved through Miami-Dade Circuit Court. Wakefield’s family criticized the delay and said the wait deepened their pain. Karina Wakefield said in 2025 that the lack of a trial made her feel the system had failed them. The timeline now shows a fast act of violence followed by years of legal waiting. The delay became part of the case’s public record, not just a private frustration. Wakefield’s family had to track hearings while living with the absence created by the shooting. Eli grew from a baby into a child during that period. The court process moved far more slowly than the events on Ocean Drive, and the guilty plea became the first major endpoint after years without a conviction.
At the plea hearing, Judge Laura Stuzin asked Davis whether he was ready to plead guilty and wait for a pre-sentence investigation before sentencing. “Yes, ma’am,” he said. The plea was not described as a negotiated sentence, leaving Stuzin to decide the term. Davis could face decades in prison or life. He is expected to receive credit for the time he has already served in jail since his arrest. The pre-sentence investigation may include Davis’ background, custody history, details of the offense and other information the court can consider. Prosecutors can emphasize the random attack, the child’s danger, the public setting and the loss to Wakefield’s family. The defense can present mitigation and argue for a lower sentence. Because no fixed deal was announced, the judge’s decision remains the central unresolved matter. The report will guide the next hearing and the sentence.
Wakefield’s family will be part of the sentencing record through the impact of the crime and, if allowed, statements to the court. Lora Wakefield, his mother, said the plea brought relief because it showed movement after years of waiting. Matt Wakefield, his father, said the family had spent years praying and trusting. Relatives described Dustin Wakefield as a father, husband, musician and person of faith who died protecting Eli from a stranger with a gun. Their statements add a human record to the police and court files. The family has said Dustin Wakefield should be remembered for how he lived and for how he died protecting his son. The sentencing hearing will give relatives a chance to make that loss part of the formal record before the judge decides the final punishment. Their accounts will help connect the legal file to the people left behind.
No sentencing date had been announced in the latest public reports. Davis remains in custody while the pre-sentence review continues. The plea answered who committed the crimes, but the final prison term in Wakefield’s killing remains undecided. The next public milestone is the judge’s sentencing decision in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.
Author note: Last updated June 17, 2026.