Convicted felon pulls out rifle from black van during robbery in Miami-Dade, police says

MIAMI – Two pedestrians were terrified when a 38-year-old convicted felon who was with his 22-year-old girlfriend in a black van recently pulled up and threatened them with a rifle, police said.

Ernest Pierre appeared in court on Wednesday in Miami-Dade County to face charges for the armed robbery on Saturday west of Miami Shores. He had been at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center held without bond since Tuesday afternoon.

With a history of convictions for crimes from 2003 to 2010 in Miami-Dade County, some of which included weapons charges, Pierre was not allowed to have a rifle.

Detectives detained Pierre and his girlfriend Ashawnte Cummings at about 2 p.m., on Tuesday, records show. Cummings said the van and the rifle had belonged to her father, and she was sleeping in the van and was unaware of the robbery, according to the police arrest report.

Detectives decided to release Cummings and arrest Pierre, who had been released from prison in 2021 over a 2010 burglary and an armed robbery conviction, records show. He was back behind bars shortly before 5:20 p.m. on Tuesday in Miami-Dade.

Pierre had served about 11 years in a Florida prison, and when a judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison for the 2010 crimes, he had already been convicted of a 2003 battery, and a 2005 armed carjacking and robbery, according to his Florida Department of Corrections profile.

One of the victims of the recent armed robbery told police Pierre took his iPhone 13 Pro Max and $20, while they were in the area of Northwest 93 Street and Sixth Avenue, just east of Interstate 95 and the Pinewood neighborhood, according to the police arrest report.

The other victim ran away. The stolen iPhone’s last ping location and surveillance video helped Miami-Dade detectives with the robbery intervention unit to find the black van, Pierre and his girlfriend, police said.

On Wednesday afternoon, jail records show Pierre was facing two counts of robbery with a firearm or deadly weapon, two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm, display or use of a firearm while committing a felony, and possession of a firearm or weapon by a convicted felon.