MIAMI – Police have identified two suspects that were taken into custody in connection with Thursday's shooting of a Liberty City pastor.
Larry Flowers, 20, and Tyreke Desire, 19, are both charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and resisting an office without violence.
Kenneth Johnson, 67, was shot outside the City market in Liberty City around 6 p.m. Thursday.
Friends and witnesses said the crooks were after a gold chain around Johnson's neck that wasn't even real gold. A struggle broke out, and Johnson was ultimately shot and killed.
The owner of the market says he saw one of the men grab Johnson from the back and the other man shot him.
"He fought them off," said Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa. "He fought for his life to the point where he took one of the suspects to the ground."
A police officer witnessed part of the fatal altercation, which led to a chase and the eventual arrests of the suspects.
"We had an officer who was about 50 yards away," said Orosa. "He saw part of the robbery."
Johnson was a pastor at Power, Faith and Deliverance Ministries. A vigil is planned for 6 p.m. Friday at the church, and a march will be followed to the scene of the shooting, which is one block away.
Residents of Liberty City told Local 10 that the gunmen broke the "street rules," because you just don't shoot a pastor.
"The rules of the street were broken because this guy live and operates in this area," said the Rev. Vinson Spann, a longtime friend of the victim. "He feeds them, he gives his clothes."