On Sunday, March 19, a Florida couple driving to Key West was “terrorized” and shot when they unwittingly stopped at an intersection where an illegal street race was underway, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident occurred around 4 a.m. in Lehigh Acres, which is about 140 miles south of Tampa. The couple had their boat in tow when they stopped at the intersection of Milwaukee Boulevard and Homestead Road.
Video posted on social media shows that the couple was attempting to escape when one person ran up to the driver’s side window “and fired a pistol directly into the truck.” The victims suffered critical injuries, and their identities and conditions have not been released.
The suspected shooter was identified as 17-year-old Armando Cruz of Cape Coral, who has been charged with “two counts of attempted murder, two counts of aggravated battery, shooting into a conveyance, discharging a firearm in public, possession of a firearm by a juvenile, aggravated rioting, occupied burglary of a vessel, possession of a firearm during a felony, and criminal mischief,” officials said.
Robert Moya, 19, and Savion Woods, 22, were also charged with aggravated rioting after their fingerprints were found on the victims’ truck.
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno referred to the incident as a “disgusting act” at a press conference and pledged to seize the vehicles of those involved in the race. He also said that the elderly couple is currently receiving treatment at a local hospital and that detectives are in constant contact with hospital staff and their family.