Victims sue Miami Beach apartment complex for $12 million after home invasion, armed robbery

CBS News

4 days ago

An attorney has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $12 million after three people say they were attacked and robbed at a luxury apartment building on Miami Beach last month.
All three victims are speaking out for the first time, including Jacob Kirstein, who said he was pistol-whipped during the incident.
The attack occurred on June 17 at the Flamingo Point apartments, located in the 1500 block of Bay Road, according to Miami Beach police.
"He walked in and told us to get on the floor or he would blow our brains out," Kirstein said. "What happened to us should not happen to anyone. He beat us mercilessly, stole our belongings, and forced us to transfer money from my account."
"To this day, I am grateful to God that I survived. I was bleeding on the kitchen floor after I was pistol-whipped on the head. I had to apply pressure on my head to stay alive. I was beaten so badly that I have brain injuries that I am still working through."
Kirstein said they were promised safety in a high-end building, but those promises were "empty."
Kirstein's fiancée, Kylee Holland, said she will never forget what happened on the ninth floor of her building on June 17, when she was taking out the trash. She said a stranger, armed with a gun, confronted her inside the building.
"This happened in our home, which is a place where we should be safe and protected," Holland said. "No one should experience what we did. Since that night, I have struggled with constant anxiety and fear, and I have trauma following us every day."
Police said Holland was forced at gunpoint to bring the suspect—31-year-old Brian Lopez—into her apartment. Kirstein said all three victims, including visitor Gary Burns, were forced to the ground at gunpoint. Kirstein was then forced to transfer $1,500 to the suspect via Zelle.
"The next thing I know, I see Jacob covered in blood," Burns said. "That's when I realized there was a very real possibility that we might die."
The victims said Lopez fled when one of them began screaming.
Police said Lopez also committed an armed burglary that same night in the same complex, stealing a man's wallet, phone, and keys.
Attorney Bernardo Pimentel II, who is representing the victims, said the suspect was able to bypass multiple layers of security, including entrances, lobbies, guards, and even fingerprint scanners that were reportedly out of order.
"No one who lives in a high-end secured building should have to fear that an armed individual can bypass security and enter their home and terrorize them at gunpoint," Pimentel said.
Kirstein and Holland said they plan to move out of the building. Their attorney said surveillance video captured the suspect in the elevator.
Authorities said Lopez was on conditional release supervision with the Florida Department of Corrections and had been released from state prison in January. Records show he has a lengthy criminal history, including charges for narcotics sales, possession of a firearm by a felon, and battery on a law enforcement officer.
Lopez is being held without bond and has been charged with three counts of armed robbery with a deadly weapon and one count of armed burglary with battery.