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Inset: Marcuss Ealy (Miami-Dade County). Background: Prosecutors showing the selfies that Marcuss Ealy allegedly took with a murder victim’s gold medallion (WTVJ).
A Florida man committed a cold-blooded, execution-style killing on camera and then took selfies with a gold medallion that was snatched off the victim’s neck, according to prosecutors and court documents.
Marcuss Ealy, 22, is charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery with a firearm or deadly weapon for the 2023 shooting death of 21-year-old Malcolm Avery Johnson Jr. near Northwest 170th Street and Northwest 3rd Avenue in North Miami Beach, the State Attorney’s Office reports.
A motion for pretrial detention filed last week in the state’s 11th Circuit outlines what Ealy allegedly did and how his own mother pointed him out in photos and provided sworn statements to police, saying: “This was my worst nightmare, somebody killing Marcuss or Marcuss killing someone.”
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Surveillance cameras set up at a local business near the scene allegedly captured what went down, with cops showing Ealy’s mom still photos from the footage of Ealy and another man, Mario Folger, committing the deadly heist together on May 30, 2023, per prosecutors.
“Yes, it’s them,” Ebony Lundy told officers after being shown the photos, according to the motion for pretrial detention. The document states that Ealy’s brother also aided cops by declaring that “the shooter is 100% his brother Marcuss” when contacted by investigators and shown still photos from the video.
The brother further indicated that he has seen the gun being used to kill Johnson in Instagram posts put up by Ealy, according to prosecutors.
Ealy’s alleged accomplice, Fogler, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in March and received a 20-year sentence, according to local NBC affiliate WTVJ. He is expected to testify against Ealy at his trial, the station reported.
On Monday, Ealy was denied bond by a local judge as prosecutors shared images of the selfies he allegedly took with Johnson’s medallion. Ealy’s girlfriend also allegedly took photos with the jewelry. Prosecutors say Ealy snatched it off Johnson’s neck before firing four rounds at him with a pistol, according to the pretrial detention motion. Police reported Johnson being shot once in the head and once in the chest by Ealy.
“I can’t in any good conscious say that it would be safe for the community to return this defendant to his home,” said Judge Cristina Miranda at Ealy’s bond hearing, according to WTVJ. “Where law enforcement has gone to the extent of putting a pole camera to observe what’s going on.”
