Julio Labrada was 14 and an eighth-grade student at Keys Gate Charter School when he was killed on November 25, 2019, in Southwest Miami-Dade. He and a 15-year-old friend, Jose Villarreal III, were at a friend’s house with 15-year-old Joseph Blanco when Blanco was playing with a gun that accidentally discharged. A single bullet struck both Julio and Jose; both teenagers were pronounced dead at the scene.

The deaths devastated the school and community; crisis counselors were made available at Keys Gate Charter School and the principal said the school was deeply saddened. Joseph Blanco was arrested and initially charged in juvenile court; those charges were later upgraded and he was charged as an adult, with his first appearance set for December 17, 2019. Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho urged that guns should never be in the hands of children.

Who knew Julio or was familiar with the house where the shooting happened and can share information that might shed light on how a firearm became accessible to these boys?