Miami Police: Arrest Made In 2014 Slaying Of Brooklyn Rabbi

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Police have made an arrest in connection with the murder of a Brooklyn rabbi who was killed in Florida last year.

Homicide detectives arrested Deandre Charles, 15, in connection with the death of the 60-year-old Rabbi Joseph Raksin, Miami-Dade police spokeswoman Jennifer Capote said Wednesday.

Charles faces attempted robbery with a firearm and  first-degree murder charges.

Raksin was shot and killed during an apparent botched robbery on Aug. 9, 2014, as he walked to a temple in Miami. Raksin, of Crown Heights, was in Florida visiting his daughter and family.

While 15-year old Deandre Charles sat in an adult prison on a murder charge, political heavy hitters, and a myriad of police and prosecutors filed into the State Attorney's office to trumpet the arrest, CBS2's Natalia Zea reported.

"This is a prime example of how prosecutors and police can work together," Miami-Dade District Attorney Fernandez Rundle said.

Fernandez Rundle says DNA, telephone records, and a witness sketch convinced a grand jury to indict Charles for Raksin's murder.

"He didn't have any money on him so he shot and killed him," Rundle said.

The arrest of one of those accused brings relief to Raksin's family.

PHOTOS: Rabbi Joseph Raksin Funeral

"It's a step toward justice," said Israel Labkowski, Raksin's son-in-law.

Charles was just 14 at the time Raksin was shot dead as he walked to synagogue.

"It's sad that a kid, not even 18, could do something like this," said Labkowski. "I don't know what's his story. I don't know the background, what he went through. But there's no excuse for an act like that."

"We want this vicious thug to be prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows," Shuli Labkowski-Raskin, the victim's daughter, said. "Today is our third day of our festival of Hanukkah and the light that my father had will continue to burn."

Charles' family sees the arrest differently.

"This is being pinned on a young teenager that has a little issues - who doesn't - and this is just ridiculous," said Charles' relative Willis Archibald.

Police raided Charles' home  after his mother went to work.

"I'm going to fight this until the day I go into my grave," the suspect's mother Blair Charles said. "All my kids was here on that Saturday."

"One hundred percent certain he didn't do this," Archibald said. "The whole family was home when this incident occurred."

Raksin's son-in-law and grandchildren were walking just blocks behind him when he was killed.

At the time, police said the killing was not a hate crime, but the rabbi's family believed otherwise, pointing to the fact that just days ago, someone painted a large red swastika and the word "Hamas" outside a temple not far from where the shooting happened.

Charles will face a judge sometime next week.

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