During a bright Miami Bayfront Park Sunday afternoon, reggae and soca music filled the atmosphere as nearly 12,000 fans attended the May 25, 2025, Best of the Best International Music Festival. The event, an established Caribbean cultural mainstay in North America, featured established artists like Buju Banton and Beres Hammond. Yet the celebratory atmosphere sank when gunshots echoed near the festival grounds, leading to mass panic as fans fled for their lives in their thousands.
The shooting happened by the intersection of Biscayne Boulevard and Northeast 2nd Street, when the large crowd was directed by Miami police officers. In physical contact with 21-year-old Menelek Clarke’s black BMW, one of the officers who was directing traffic had a reflective yellow vest. The officer climbed onto the car’s hood and fired shots through the windshield.
Clarke pulled over, got out, and obeyed the commands of the police by lying down face first on the road with bloodstains apparent on his shirt. He was rushed to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital and is currently stable after undergoing an operation. The officer had minor injuries and was treated and discharged from the hospital.
The police account is contested by Clarke’s sister, Sherylann Clarke, who was in the car during the incident. She insists that the officer signaled them to proceed before stepping in front of their vehicle and opening fire.
“We were all stopped. He told everyone else to go with his hands, signaling that we can go. And then he stood in front of my brother’s car and shot him,”
she told. Sherylann emphasized that her brother was unarmed and did not intend to hit the officer, adding,
“He said that he felt like he was going to die.”
Cellphone video, which circulated extensively online, shows the officer grabbing onto the hood of the speeding BMW and shooting through the windshield. The footage depicts Clarke stepping out of the car and giving up, but not what happened leading up to the incident.
The shooting led to mass panic at the festival’s attendees. Thousands sprinted for refuge, their lives in danger as the sound of shots was heard close to Bayfront Park. The festival went ahead despite the disruption, with the organizers putting out a statement:
“For 19 consecutive years, Best of the Best has celebrated incident-free, a reflection of our dedication to safety and our continuing partnership with the City of Miami and law enforcement”
They further made a clarification that the incident happened off the festival grounds and involved non-patrons.
The 19th annual Best of the Best International Music Festival is a cultural institution, paying tribute to Caribbean music genres like reggae, dancehall, and soca. The event is produced annually at Bayfront Park and attracts fans from across the region for performances amidst the scenic backdrop of Biscayne Bay.
The incident is investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), as is customary with all such incidents of shooting by the police throughout the state. The agency examines the footage from the officer’s body cameras, videos from retail businesses in the immediate area, and eyewitness testimony, to re-create the incident.
“There are a lot of cameras, Miami Police cameras and private cameras, that we are still reviewing,”
Aguilar said. No charges are filed against Clarke and the officer’s name is also not announced until the investigation is complete.
