A Miami man accused of gunning down his wife at a Jewish center pool didn’t appear in court on Monday to face his murder charge.
A Miami-Dade public defender entered Carl Watts Jr.‘s not guilty plea to the charge of second-degree murder with a deadly weapon for the killing of Shandell Harris.
Harris’ brother, Ty’rel Harris, 29, and her father, Matthew Everett, did attend the brief hearing. “I wanted to make sure I’m present, to make sure he gets charged,” Everett said.
Watts, 45, remains in jail. Authorities say he has a long history of domestic violence and other criminal activity. And now, he is being looked at as a suspect in the murders of two other former lovers.
One of them, Vickie Simmons, was murdered inside a Miami motel in 2009 and the other, Trukita Scott, disappeared in 2014 from Fort Lauderdale, and her parents fear she may be dead, the Miami Herald newspaper reported.
Watts has not been officially charged in either case and he is not discussing Harris’ shooting with investigators by invoking his right to remain silent.
Watts is accused of murdering Harris, 30, at the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center pool in front of kids and parents on Aug. 3.
Police say the day before, Watts stabbed Harris after she threatened to leave him. She reported the case to Miami police, but detectives weren’t able to track him down before he confronted her at the pool, where she’d been with her young daughter for swim lessons.
Watts was trying to get her to withdraw her allegations before he opened fire. Private security guards immediately detained him.
Watts is charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, tampering with a witness, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and tampering with physical evidence.
