HIALEAH, Fla. – Police have made two arrests in the shooting of a Hialeah dentist.
Ralph Benjamin, 39, was arrested Friday on a charge of attempted murder.
According to a Hialeah police report, Benjamin shot Carmen Ramirez multiple times on the stairwell leading to her dental office on East 41st Street.
Police said surveillance video revealed that Hector Ledesma was the getaway driver.
An investigation determined that Ledesma is the brother of Jose Ledesma, who is facing three to five years in prison if convicted of identity theft. The victim in that 2015 case was Ramirez, who was set to testify in his trial.
Police said Ledesma defrauded Ramirez out of more than $40,000.
Investigators determined that Benjamin and Ledesma purchased one-way tickets to the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Ramirez lives, the day after the shooting.
Both men were arrested as they prepared to board a plane at Miami International Airport.
Police said Ledesma confessed to driving Benjamin to the location where the shooting took place.
Ramirez was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where she remains in critical condition with gunshot wounds to her face, neck, chest and other parts of her body.
Benjamin and Ledesma were being held without bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.