A Christmas remembrance: Miami's 2025 loss of Kinard Shirley and 171 others who died in the streets

Attendees at last Friday's vigil in downtown Miami to remember 172 homeless people who died this year raised candles and watched the release of dozens of white doves to commemorate them. Photo: Godfrey Mead for the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust.

By Noreen Marcus, FloridaBulldog.org

Kinard Shirley was one of 172 homeless people who died this year in Miami. He wasn’t somebody’s father or spouse, but he was a brother and a son.

Shirley, 37, was a day laborer at a downtown construction site near North Miami Avenue and NW 6th Street. It’s an intersection of history, transportation and commerce – the venerable Freedom Tower, the sleek MiamiCentral train station, and the upscale restaurants and shops that go with gentrification.

That’s where Shirley and his fellow laborer Marshall Ragsdale, 66, were fatally attacked with a metal pipe at about 5:45 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 16. A male-and-female couple also were bludgeoned; the woman was critically injured, but both survived.

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A Christmas remembrance: Miami's 2025 loss of Kinard Shirley and 171 others who died in the streets

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