Teen arrested in water gun attack on Jewish pedestrians, sheriff's office says

Allison Beck, Miami Herald on Jun 19, 2026

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MIAMI — Sheriff's deputies have arrested a 19-year-old following an investigation into an alleged hate crime in northeast Miami-Dade County, officers say.

Amir Ayesh will be charged with two felonies, according to a Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office news release. The allegations follow a similar incident that resulted in the arrests of two men in February.

According to the sheriff’s office, on May 9, two victims alleged that an individual in a black vehicle sprayed them with an “unknown liquid” in a quiet section of North Miami Beach’s Uleta neighborhood, which has a high concentration of Jewish people.

“Subsequent investigative efforts led detectives to identify Amir Ayesh as the suspect,” Detective Samantha Choon wrote in the news release.

Officials obtained an arrest warrant on June 11, according to Choon, and Broward sheriff’s deputies arrested Ayesh in Plantation on June 18. He left Broward County Correctional Center the following day, according to online records.

According to a Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office news release, he will face two felony counts of battery with prejudice. Those charges have not yet been filed in Broward or Miami-Dade courts, as of Friday.