Pubdate: Thu, 02 Apr 2015
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2015 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Authors: Kim Mackrael and Omar El Akkad, with a report from the
Associated Press
Page: A1

MIAMI GUN BATTLE LEAVES CANADIAN ENVOY'S ELDEST SON DEAD, YOUNGEST
UNDER ARREST

When Roxanne Dube was appointed consul-general to Miami last November,
her sons Marc and Jean Wabafiyebazu seemed enthusiastic about the move.

After spending much of their lives in Ottawa and Zimbabwe, the teens,
15 and 17, relished the idea of living in a city that has featured as
a backdrop for many blockbuster films. "For them it really was a big
move," their father Germano Wabafiyebazu said in an interview. "You
see Miami in movies and everything, so to be now going there =C2=85 they
were really enthusiastic."

Ms. Dube took up her new post in early February, Mr. Wabafiyebazu
said, and the boys were enrolled in Miami high schools. Less than two
months after they left Ottawa, he said, he is struggling to understand
what went wrong.

Jean Wabafiyebazu was killed on Monday in a bloody daylight gun battle
that police believe broke out during a marijuana drug deal at a Miami
apartment. Mr.Wabafiyebazu's 15-year-old brother, Marc, was arrested
for felony murder and was later accused of threatening a police
officer. Under Florida law, any person who participates in a violent
felony that results in someone's death can be charged with felony murder.

Germano Wabafiyebazu told The Globe and Mail that he was contacted by
the boys' mother after the shooting occurred, and she relayed to him
what she believed had happened. The teens had planned to drive around
the city, Mr. Wabafiyebazu said, butJean had an "appointment" at the
house where the shooting took place. The father and Ms. Dube have been
divorced for several years.

"Marc went with his brother, according to their mother, to go just
around the city. But Jean had this appointment. So he [went] there,
left his brother Marc inside the car, and [went] inside the house," he
said.

When Marc heard shots fired, he entered the building and found two
people - including his older brother - shot to death, Mr. Wabafiyebazu
said.

One of the suspected drug dealers in the house, Joshua Wright, was
also killed, police told The Miami Herald.

A second man arrested in the case, 19-year-old Anthony Rodriguez, was
granted a $150,000 bond on Wednesday. Mr. Rodriguez, who was found by
police bleeding at a nearby gas station and is alleged to have been
involved in a shootout with JeanWabafiyebazu, is charged with murder,
as well as possession of marijuana with intent to sell.

Jose Elortegui, the lawyer representing Mr. Rodriguez, said normally
arraignments are scheduled for three weeks after the initial court
date, but no specific date had yet been set for his client.

The shooting took place in an apartment near the corner of Southwest
36th Avenue and Southwest 17th Street. The area is a working-class
part of Miami's Coral Way neighbourhood, less than a 10-minute drive
from a palatial, terracotta-tiled mansion on Riviera Drive that once
housed Canada's consuls in Miami; Ottawa put it up for sale last summer.

On Wednesday afternoon, several police cars were parked near the
apartment. The area was cordoned off with police tape until mid
afternoon. Satellite vans representing many of Miami's biggest TV news
stations were also parked nearby.

Mr. Wabafiyebazu confirmed to the Associated Press that the teens had
borrowed their mother's car, with diplomatic licence plates, to drive
to the house where the shooting took place.

Speaking to The Globe, Mr. Wabafiyebazu said he believes his older son
had gone to the house to meet a drug dealer whom an intermediary had
connected him with. He said he does not believe that Marc would have
done something violent.

Mr. Wabafiyebazu said he was advised on Wednesday to stop speaking
with reporters about his sons.

Before moving to Miami, Marc and Jean attended Lycee Claudel, a
private French-language school in Ottawa that is popular with
politicians and diplomats.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa said
Wednesday that the government is aware of a "serious incident
involving a Canadian family in Miami." Canadian officials are
assisting the family and local police, John Babcock wrote in an e-mail.

Diplomatic immunity, which provides some protection from prosecution
under a host country's laws, does not apply in Marc Wabafiyebazu's
case. That's because the limited immunity that is granted to consular
officials, who deal with local authorities, does not extend to their
family members. Ambassadors and diplomatic staff whose jobs require
them to deal with officials from their host state have immunity, as do
their families.

Ms. Dube was Canada's ambassador to Zimbabwe from 2005 to 2008, with
concurrent diplomatic accredidation to Angola and Botswana. She served
as staff member for former Liberal MP and cabinet minister Lloyd
Axworthy from 1988 until 1996, before joining the Department of
Foreign Affairs in 1998. After her posting in Zimbabwe, Ms. Dube
returned to Ottawa, where she worked at the level of director-general
in the Department of Foreign Affairs.
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MAP posted-by: Matt