A 35-year-old Miami-Dade woman is facing a felony charge after police say she pulled a knife from her purse and chased her ex-boyfriend down a hallway toward an elevator following a breakup confrontation. Rynise Allen was arrested Sunday and now faces a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
According to an arrest report cited by WSVN 7News, Allen waited outside her ex-boyfriend's apartment in northeast Miami-Dade on June 22. The pair had been in a romantic relationship for about six months, and Allen reportedly wanted to talk about their relationship, but the victim repeatedly asked her to leave. She refused, the report states.
Police say Allen eventually pulled a knife from her purse, pointed it at the victim, and chased him down a hallway toward an elevator, where he became trapped. The victim tried to calm her down and then hugged her as a distraction, according to the report, using the moment to remove the knife from her purse himself. Allen then put the knife back in her purse and left only after the victim told her he would call law enforcement, the outlet reports.
Arrest Came Weeks After the Alleged Confrontation
Allen was located and arrested by police on Sunday, more than six weeks after the alleged hallway chase. She was taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, a 1,300-bed maximum-security facility at 7000 NW 41st Street that serves as Miami-Dade County's primary booking and pre-trial holding site, per Florida County Jails. Allen declined to give a statement to investigators, the report notes.
A judge found probable cause in the case and ordered Allen held without bond, a step that is standard procedure for domestic violence-related arrests in Florida, since state law requires such defendants to remain jailed until a first appearance hearing within 24 hours of booking, according to the Miami-Dade Public Defender's Office. The judge subsequently placed Allen on house arrest.
What House Arrest Looks Like for Allen
Under Miami-Dade's Monitored Release Program, Allen will be required to wear a GPS ankle tracking unit and submit to random visits from an assigned case manager, according to Miami-Dade County. Pre-trial house arrest in Miami-Dade Circuit Court can range from a strict Level One “total lockdown,” where defendants cannot leave home without explicit court permission, to a more flexible Level Two allowing pre-approved movement between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. under GPS supervision, per the Law Offices of Eric M. Matheny. It is not clear from available records which tier applies in Allen's case.
Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon is a third-degree felony under Florida Statute § 784.021, carrying a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison, five years of probation, and a $5,000 fine. Notably, the charge does not require physical contact or injury — it hinges on an intentional threat with a deadly weapon that creates a well-founded fear of imminent violence, according to the Law Office of W.F. “Casey” Ebsary Jr. That distinction explains why Allen was charged with assault rather than battery, even though the victim was never struck.
Part of a Recurring Pattern in Miami-Dade
The case adds to a string of recent weapon-involved domestic disputes across the county. Hoodline previously reported on a Homestead teacher's knife clash with boyfriend in July, as well as a June incident in Riverside that sent a man to the ICU after a steak-knife stabbing, and a May roommate fight in Miami that ended with a broomstick beating and a knife threat.
Miami-Dade County recorded a domestic violence offense rate of 267.0 per 100,000 residents in 2024, a slight dip from 271.1 per 100,000 the year before, according to Florida Department of Health statistics compiled through FLHealthCHARTS. Statewide, certified domestic violence centers provided more than 412,000 nights of emergency shelter and fielded over 72,000 hotline calls in a single fiscal year, though the Florida Department of Children and Families cautions that actual incident rates remain higher due to underreporting. Even as overall violent crime in the city of Miami trended downward in early 2026, mirroring national urban safety patterns tracked by the Major Cities Chiefs Association and reported by Axios, cases like Allen's underscore how weapon-involved domestic confrontations continue to surface in local courts.
