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Miami man arrested in Liberty City killing of anti-violence organizer Dwight Wells
Jamar Lionel Jenkins, 39, was arrested on a second-degree murder charge in the 2025 shooting death of Dwight Wells, founder of the “Wheels Up, Guns Down” initiative. Police say the killing was revenge for Wells’ role in the 2004 death of Jenkins’ brother; Jenkins has denied involvement.
A 39-year-old Miami-Dade man was arrested Wednesday in the fatal shooting of Dwight Wells, an anti-violence activist and founder of the “Wheels Up, Guns Down” initiative, more than a year after Wells was killed outside a Liberty City restaurant.
Jamar Lionel Jenkins of northwest Miami-Dade is charged with second-degree murder in Wells’ Oct. 10, 2025, death. As of Thursday, Jenkins was being held without bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, according to jail records.
Miami police say the shooting was motivated by revenge. Wells, 40, had served prison time for killing Jenkins’ brother, Anthony Jenkins, in 2004, then became an anti-violence activist after his release, authorities said.
According to police, Wells was playing dominoes on the patio of Winning and Won Turkey Legs, at 5030 NW 17th Ave., when a masked gunman approached and shot him multiple times.
An arrest warrant says investigators linked shell casings found at the scene to a January 2024 shooting incident in North Miami involving Jenkins and his younger brother. Both brothers were arrested in connection with that incident on charges of unlawfully firing a gun, the warrant states.
Police said the younger brother was questioned after an arrest on a suspended-license charge in December 2025. He told investigators that several family members, including Jenkins, remained upset over Anthony Jenkins’ death, and that Jenkins had been the last person with his gun. When he later asked for the firearm back, he was told it had gone “swimming,” according to the warrant.
Investigators also cited surveillance footage they said connected Jenkins’ Mercedes-Benz to the shooting. Police said vehicle GPS records, along with iCloud and Google data, helped tie Jenkins to the car. Employment records indicated he had the night off from his contracted custodial job at the Bruce W. Carter Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, authorities said.
Jenkins denied knowing that Wells had been convicted in his brother’s killing and told police he was home asleep the night Wells was shot, according to the warrant. He said he learned of the killing from social media and news reports. Detectives wrote that when they showed him surveillance images, he continued to say his vehicle had been at home and could not explain its movements.
Police arrested Jenkins at the Miami VA medical center on Wednesday morning. The charge is an allegation, and the case will proceed through the courts.