MIAMI — Wilkhari Jones was a Miami Edison Senior High School football player with a full Florida Memorial University scholarship when police officers arrested him about six years ago, court records show.
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On Thursday, Miami-Dade County Circuit Court Judge Laura Gonzalez-Marques sentenced Jones, 25, to 13 years in state prison for his role in the shooting of Officer Erica Socarras on April 24, 2020, in Miami.
“You are a very young man, Sir. And, I hope that you take the time in prison to reflect on the things that you have done, and come out of it differently, because you endangered an officer,” Gonzalez-Marques told Jones during the sentencing hearing.
Gonzalez-Marques also sentenced Jones to a three-year probation and ordered him to stay away from Socarras.
Socarras, a tactical robbery unit detective in an unmarked Dodge Charger, wasn’t injured during the shooting in Brownsville. A round struck the Taser she had on her gun belt, according to police.
Jones pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted premeditated murder with a deadly weapon, throwing a deadly missile, aggravated assault with a firearm, and solicitation to commit murder.
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“As I sat next to her in the courtroom, I had asked her if the sentencing was adequate for her, and she said, ‘It is adequate,’ and she just wants it to be done already,” said Deputy Chief of Miami Police Albert “Al” Guerra after the hearing.
Gonzalez-Marques had sentenced Antranard Womble, his co-defendant, to 15 years in prison for firing at Socarras during a traffic stop at the corner of Northwest 22nd Avenue and 54th Street.
Jones, who has been in jail without bond since Aug. 20, 2020, has two pending cases on charges of battery by a detainee upon a visitor or another detainee, according to court and inmate records.
This is a developing story. Local 10 News Photojournalist Tim McFarland contributed to this report.
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