Cocoa Police Arrest 13-Year-Old, Charged With Manslaughter in Fatal Shooting

Arrest Report Details How Detectives Identified 13-Year-Old in Deadly Shooting

BREVARD COUNTY • COCOA, FLORIDA — A 13-year-old Cocoa boy has been arrested by Cocoa police detectives and charged with manslaughter after police say he fatally shot 30-year-old Kelby Gavin Miller during a late-night encounter in a neighborhood off Bristol Drive on Sunday, Nov. 16.

The teen, identified in new police records as Emeril Tytron Rachel, also faces a charge of possessing and using a firearm during a felony.

The shooting unfolded just before 10:30 p.m. Sunday, when Miller called 911, reporting he had been shot. Officers arrived to find him suffering from a gunshot wound to the torso. He was airlifted to Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, where he later died.

According to an arrest report, Cocoa police detectives learned that Miller had been communicating with a suspect via cell phone earlier that night. Although details of those messages were redacted, investigators said another key piece of evidence came from surveillance footage recorded along A Street.

The footage showed a “slim male” in a hoodie walking back and forth between the shooting scene and a nearby area in the minutes leading up to the gunfire. At one point, the individual is seen falling, an observation detectives later connected to physical evidence.

Officers canvassing the neighborhood ultimately traced the suspect to Rachel’s home. His mother, according to the report, acknowledged the similarities between her son and the individual captured on video.

A detective who was taken to Rachel’s bedroom found a hoodie stained with blood and dirt — markings consistent with the fall seen on the footage. Gunpowder residue was also discovered on Rachel’s hand, though he denied ever possessing a firearm.

“Emeril did identify himself on the video and was shown still image photos of him before and after the victim was shot and killed,” the report states.

Cocoa police detectives are still working to determine the relationship — if any — between Rachel and Miller, and how the teen may have obtained the firearm.

Rachel was taken to juvenile court, and the State Attorney’s Office will now decide whether to charge him as an adult as the investigation continues.

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