Three teenagers indicted for killing man who was ‘testing my gangster,’ cops say

Three teenagers have been indicted for premeditated first-degree murder in the shooting death of a man in Coconut Creek.

Dominic Soto, 16, of Lake Worth, and Jason Prendergast Jr., of Port St. Lucie — who was 17 at the time of the murder but turned 18 Thursday — were both charged as adults and ordered held without bond at their first court appearances Saturday morning.

Soto’s parents attended the court hearing but said nothing before Broward Judge Joseph Murphy rescheduled the hearings for Soto and Prendergast for Monday morning so their lawyers could be present.

Both were indicted Thursday and were moved from juvenile detention to the Broward County Main Jail on Friday.

Jermaine Atterbury, 18, of Greenacres, was arrested in Palm Beach County and extradited to Fort Lauderdale where he was jailed without bond on Nov. 22. He has pleaded not guilty and has invoked his right to remain silent, records show.

According to court documents filed in the case, Prendergast fatally shot Michael Robin Griffin, 56, of Coconut Creek, in the parking lot of a Walmart at 5571 W. Hillsboro Blvd. in a failed attempt to carjack Griffin’s orange-red Chevrolet Camaro.

Soto supplied the pink camouflage Ruger 9mm handgun used in the shooting and Atterbury was the getaway driver in a Chevrolet Avalanche pickup truck.

Griffin, a former paramedic, was making a late-night run to a Walmart pharmacy, about 1:25 a.m. Oct. 12, to pick up medicine for a sick co-worker when he was confronted by the three teenagers.

Griffin and the co-worker had landed at Miami International Airport about 6 p.m. Oct. 11, returning from a business trip to Germany. He dropped off the co-worker and then went home.

About 12:33 a.m. Oct. 12 the co-worker called him about an upset stomach and he offered to take her to a hospital emergency room. She asked for some medicine instead so he went to the pharmacy.

A neighbor’s security camera recorded Griffin leaving his home about 1:14 a.m. and Walmart parking lot surveillance video showed him arriving about 1:25 a.m. Griffin walked up to the south side entrance but the doors were locked.

As he went back to his car, surveillance video shows the Avalanche driving up, Prendergast getting out of the passenger side, having words with Griffin, then stepping back and firing several shots at Griffin who collapses and dies beside his Camaro.

Prendergast got back in the Avalanche and tossed the gun to Soto in the back seat.

Soto later told detectives that he asked Prendergast: “Why did you shoot the man?”

According to Soto, Prendergast answered: “He was testing my gangster.”

Police ultimately recovered the gun Oct. 25 from a 911 caller who said he found the pink gun in his brother’s bedroom and knew the distinct-looking weapon belonged to Soto.

Soto was arrested that same day on an unrelated warrant and during police questioning admitted to being in the Avalanche and then identified Prendergast as the shooter, records show.

Soto said the gun was his and he brought it along for a drug robbery the group had planned that night. He would not say where or how he got the gun.

The trio was arrested following investigations involving Coconut Creek police and other local, state and federal authorities.

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