Deadly Chase Ends in Neighbor’s Home  

A deadly chase in Carmelita ended inside a neighbor’s home on Thursday evening. Twenty-seven-year-old Leonardo Vasquez was running for his life when a gunman pursued him. He dashed into a nearby house for cover, but the homeowner wasn’t there, only her young son. That boy ran out, and Vasquez locked the door behind him. Moments later, a single shot blasted through the wooden door, striking Vasquez fatally. News Five’s Paul Lopez headed north today and brings us the full story.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Imagine coming home from work and finding out your house has become a crime scene. That’s exactly what happened to a resident of Carmelita Village on Thursday evening. Her neighbor had been gunned down inside her home, shot dead by a gunman.

 

Voice of: Carmelita Village Resident

“I just the come from work nuh know nothing, I just the see the neighbors gathered on the roadside and I figured something happened. So, I asked them what the happen. One of the guys said they don’t really know, but the sister-in-law said, dah nuh her house the thing happen.”

 

The victim has been identified as twenty-seven-year-old Leonardo Vasquez. Police say he was riding a motorcycle with another man in the village when a second motorcycle carrying two people pulled up. Police say the men demanded money.

 

Voice of: Carmelita Village Resident

“Now when I walk back I ask what happened and dah suh everybody come down my side and talk about my neighbor died in my house. Then I don’t know, I didn’t come inside. I came in and opened it and saw the blood. The sister in law from the guy started to tell them what happened and just like how the police the get it I the get it. I come inside, all I see is blood on the right side. By this time they already took the victim to the hospital. I never did see him.”

 

According to eyewitness accounts, an argument ensued on the street in front of the property between Vasquez and the men on the second cycle. He then ran into his neighbor’s home and pulled the door close behind him. The homeowner’s son was inside when it all happened.

 

Voice of: Carmelita Village Resident

“And for some reason they stopped at the entrance of my yard and had a back and forth. My son mih the home. He mih think his sister came home and he saw the guys quarreling, but he does not know anybody. He just look and think something would happen. So he run gone out of the yard. He didn’t see anything. He just run gone, fraid, my baby is just a baby.”

 

The gunman fired a single shot through the wooden door. Vasquez was hit and fell to the ground inside the living room where he bled out. Leonardo later succumbed to the gunshot injury.

 

Voice of: Carmelita Village Resident

“Very shocked, yes deh dah mih neighbors. We know each other. I know those boys from young, but to know it happened in my house.”

Tonight, two families in Carmelita are living a nightmare, one grieving the loss of a loved one, the other traumatized after their home became the scene of a brutal murder. Today, that second family spent the day scrubbing away the horror, mopping bloodstained floors, washing down steps, even spraying their couch. A child’s chair and lunchbox, once innocent reminders of family life, are now tossed aside, covered in the victim’s blood.

 

Voice of: Carmelita Village Resident

“I nuh really see those things happen a lot. I don’t see them happen at all. And, much less in my home. And just to think that my son was here. That part scares me the most.”

 

Police say they are investigating. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.