A gay couple told police officers that they were expecting a new lover after connecting with a user on Grindr, a dating app mostly used by gay and bisexual men. A gunman showed up instead.
Police officers responded to a report of a shooting shortly before 7:30 p.m., on Aug. 26, at the gay couple’s apartment in a two-story building in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood.
The gay couple told police officers they had been the victims of catfishing, when a fraudster uses a fictitious online persona, or a false identity, to mislead a victim.
Detectives identified the gunman as Leonardo Leon. The couple said he fired at their front door after they did not allow him into their apartment at Southwest Sixth Street and Eighth Court.
A witness who heard the shooting reported seeing Leon running, dropping a gun, picking it back up, and fleeing in a red car. Detectives identified the car as Leon’s four-door 2019 Honda Accord.
With the help of surveillance videos, a license plate reader, and the real-time crime center detectives found and seized the Honda Accord at Southwest Eighth Avenue and Second Street.
Detectives questioned Leon on Sept. 11, and he claimed he was doing a roofing job in Port St. Lucie and worked as an Uber Eats driver. According to detectives, cell phone records show Leon was doing neither when the shooting happened.
Police officers arrested Leon and correctional officers booked him on Tuesday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Prosecutors opened a felony case against him on Wednesday.
Leon is facing seven charges: Using a firearm while committing a felony, two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of throwing a deadly missile, discharging a firearm in public, and improper exhibition of a weapon.
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Source: local10
