Man found guilty of killing a teenager in a botched Yeezy sneaker robbery. Chaos broke out

Adrian Cosby was largely stone-faced Friday as Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Miguel M. de la O read a jury verdict finding him guilty of killing a teenage high school student during a botched robbery four years ago.

He began to shake slightly when the father of Andrea Camps-Lacayo, the 18-year-old senior he was convicted of murdering, began speaking during the punishment phase.

And he erupted and chaos reigned in the Miami-Dade courthouse courtroom 4-1 when Alex Camps turned to Cosby, calling him a “monster” and then blaming his actions on his upbringing.

“What the hell are you talking about,” was one of the few things Cosby said earlier about four Miami-Dade Corrections and law enforcement officers who were able to subdue him as he tried to reach Camps and get over a low wall behind him where family and friends had been sitting.

READ MORE: Chaos ensues in the courtroom after a man convicted of murdering a teenager targets her father

By then everyone in the courtroom was on their feet. Some took cover. Others, angry about the verdict and Camps’ speech, shouted at him and rushed to leave the courtroom. About twenty minutes later, when order had been restored, De la O read his verdict. Cosby had not returned.

Life sentence for the murder of Andrea Camps-Lacayo. Life sentence for the attempted murder of her boyfriend Sergio Berben. And 25 years for the attempted strong-arm robbery of the teenage couple studying at Terra Environmental Research Institute in West Kendall.

“I told you last time that I cannot give you justice,” De la O told the family. “This is a tragedy for everyone. They lost their son and you lost your daughter. And I can’t do anything for anyone.”

According to the jury, Cosby fired a fatal bullet

It took jurors less than two hours to decide that Cosby, 22, fired the bullet that killed Camps-Lacayo during a failed attempt to rob three pairs of rare and expensive sneakers from her boyfriend Berben in Homestead four years ago. Cosby is the second suspect in the case to be found guilty. In February, George Oshane Walton, 24, was sentenced to life in prison for participating in the murder.

READ MORE: ‘You robbed us forever,’ says mother of girl killed in botched sneaker heist

Jurors learned that Berben, through a friend, had agreed to meet with a man named Eric Readon, who would buy three pairs of Yeezys — a joint venture between rap superstar Kanye West and Addidas — for $935. Berben, a sneakerhead, made extra money since high school by selling sneakers on the black market through an Instagram account.

On that day of April 7, 2020, Berben and Readon had not yet agreed where to meet, so Berben took Camps-Lacayo to breakfast.

While they were eating, Berben’s cell phone rang. It was Readon, who told him to meet in a subdivision of Homestead. So Berben left in his white Jeep Wrangler, with Camps-Lacayo in the passenger seat. When the couple entered the gated community, he spoke again with Readon, who told him to park in front of an abandoned house down the street.

Berben told jurors he was holding one pair of shoes, and his girlfriend the other two, when Walton showed up instead of Readon. They started talking through the driver’s side window. Walton never displayed a weapon or tried to steal the shoes.

But as they were talking, Berben said, he noticed through his side mirror that Cosby was approaching the Jeep from behind. When Cosby got next to Walton, he opened fire, hitting Berben first in the left arm, the bullet coming out and hitting Camps-Lacayo in the stomach.

Berben put the jeep on the floor and ran out of the complex, where he called 911. Camps-Lacayo lost consciousness while holding a towel against her gunshot wound and listening to 911 dispatch instructions.

The defense said Cosby was not a shooter

During closing arguments Friday, defense attorney Dustin Tischler pressed jurors about the lack of physical and forensic evidence produced during the trial, saying Berben was mistaken when he identified Cosby as the shooter.

He showed jurors how easy it is to make a mistake during a tense situation by pointing out that he first told police that Walton was wearing a black shirt, while on the day of the shooting he was dressed in a white sweatshirt.

“This was an unspeakable tragedy. Andrea was a beautiful, beautiful girl and had her whole life ahead of her,” Tischler said during closing arguments. “But he (Berben) made a mistake in that brief second or two that the firearm was produced and fired. He said it was Cosby.”

In rebuttal, Miami-Dade Assistant State’s Attorney Sara Imm said she found it incredible that defense attorneys would expect jurors that Cosby, who had previously been with Walton and was with him again after the murder, simply accidentally reached the Jeep appeared when Kampen-Lacayo was killed.

“The video (grainy and from a distance) clearly shows which person has the firearm,” she said.

After closing time and before the outburst, Alex Camps put his arm around Berben and told him the family loved him.

“We want you to know that none of what happened that day is your fault,” Camps told Berben. “It’s really the fault of three monsters.”