BY DAVID OVALLE
Hiding an AK-47 in his clothes, reputed gang member Ricardo Ajuste lurked around a North Miami Beach neighborhood to settle a dispute over a stolen gun -- and ended up killing a city of Miami detective, police charged Wednesday.
Shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday, Ajuste came across a couple parked in a black Impala near Northeast 164th Street and 18th Avenue and ''suddenly, without warning,'' according to police, fired several bullets. The shots missed the woman but wounded the unidentified man in the arm.
Police say that moments later, Ajuste, with the high-powered weapon still in his hands, fired off several more rounds into a Ford Taurus that had pulled up in a nearby alleyway, killing the driver.
Inside the unmarked car was Miami police detective James Walker, 30. He had just finished his afternoon shift and had come to visit his estranged wife.
''He was my world. My life. My world has been taken from me,'' Katinah Boursiquot, Walker's wife of nine years, said Wednesday.
Police on Wednesday charged Ajuste, 21, with two attempted murder charges in the attack on the unnamed couple and named him a ''prime suspect'' in Walker's shooting death.
''We're waiting for results of police science -- ballistics and fingerprints -- to confirm that,'' said Miami Lt. Bill Schwartz, a spokesman.
''The specifics of the exchange are still under investigation,'' Schwartz said. ``However, we feel certain that finding himself in the middle of hell, Detective Walker took police action.
SHOOTING DENIED
''When he was found, he was slumped over the wheel of his unmarked police vehicle with his service Glock in his hand, and it had been fired,'' Schwartz said.
Ajuste admitted he was in the area but denied shooting at anyone, according to an arrest report by Detective Michael Stein.
Ajuste was booked into Miami-Dade County Jail at 2:57 a.m.
NO BOND
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer ordered Ajuste held without bond Wednesday on the attempted murder charges.
Ajuste, who stands five-feet-six, weighs 150 pounds and sports a ''1-way'' tattoo on his neck, has logged 18 previous arrests in Miami-Dade, mostly on small-time charges such as marijuana possession, trespassing and loitering and prowling, according to court records. Police say he is a member of a street gang known as One-Way.
Before Wednesday's arrest, Ajuste had been out on bond for an unrelated case of driving with a suspended license.
Police on Wednesday were chasing more leads and conducting more interviews, trying to see if anyone else might have been involved in the shootings -- more than 30 shell casings were found.
Detectives believe Ajuste discarded the Romanian-made AK-47-style rifle in the alleyway. They also theorize that Walker's death may have been a case of mistaken identity: Another white Taurus, which Ajuste may have believed was driven by an enemy, had reportedly been seen in the area.
POLICE RESPONSE
North Miami Beach officers heard gunfire and rushed to the scene.
The first to find Walker inside the Taurus was Officer David Foy. Officer Christie Coffey, after talking to witnesses, then issued a bulletin describing the gunman clad in black.
Officer Karl Anderson, west of the alleyway, collared Ajuste and detained him.
''The good police work on this case began with the patrol officers who rushed to the scene,'' said North Miami Beach Sgt. Warren Hardison, a spokesman.
The case was assigned to senior detectives Stein and Rich Rand, who are working closely with Miami homicide detectives.
Also assisting in the investigation: Miami-Dade homicide detectives, the FBI, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office.
Gang investigators from across the county also helped. Early Wednesday, bleary-eyed detectives -- some up 24 hours straight -- left police headquarters while some returned to the crime scene some four blocks away.
IN MOURNING
As investigators continued building their case, others mourned. A flower-covered memorial with Walker's photo was erected in the lobby.
Officials were planning to move the funeral for Saturday to a bigger venue, most likely Mount Hermon AME Church, 17800 NW 25th Ave. A viewing will be held Friday evening at Jordan Grove Missionary Baptist Church.
Meanwhile Walker's wife conducted rounds of media interviews.
She called Walker ''her turtle'' -- because he was so shy and reserved. When they were married in 1998, they eloped because there was no money for a wedding.
The couple had recently separated, but had been seeing each other again.
''He was very dedicated to his work,'' Boursiquot said.
Miami Herald staff writers Adam H. Beasley and Susannah A. Nesmith contributed to this report.
Matt Puckett
Deputy Executive Director
Florida Police Benevolent Association