MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A 37-year-old man was arrested Wednesday after he shot his neighbor in the upper body, authorities said.
Julio Perez is facing charges of attempted first-degree murder and armed burglary.
The shooting was reported shortly after 12:30 a.m. Wednesday in the 8200 block of Southwest 25th Street.
According to Perez’s arrest report, the victim’s wife, Claudia Porro, was standing in her living room when she heard a loud bang coming from the front door to her home.
She told officers that she then saw Perez breaking through the door with a sledge hammer, knocking the door completely off its frame.
Police said Porro ran to her children’s bedroom as her husband, Robert Muina, ran into the living room.
Porro told officers that she hid in a closet with her kids as she heard her husband struggling with Perez.
Muina told police that Perez fired one shot at him and he began to fight Perez for control of the gun.
According to the report, Perez then fired one more shot, which struck the victim in the upper body.
The victim told officers that he heard Perez tell another man who had entered his home to strike him with a baseball bat. But police said Muina was able to get inside the bedroom where his wife and kids were, and used his feet to hold the door closed and prevent Perez from opening the door.
The family then fled their home when they discovered that Perez had left.
Police said Porro drove her husband to Baptist Hospital and he was then airlifted to Kendall Regional Medical Center in stable condition.
Police said Perez was taken into custody a short time later and invoked his right to remain silent.
According to authorities, Porro told officers that her husband had been involved in an ongoing dispute with Perez, but further details about what the men were quarreling over was not immediately released by police.
Police said Muina was the only person injured in the shooting.
According to authorities, two other people who were involved in the incident were interviewed, but they are not facing charges at this time.
Perez is currently being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center without bond.
He appeared in bond court Thursday morning.
“It wasn’t like that,” Perez said in Spanish through a translator as Judge Mindy Glazer read from the arrest report.
“That’s not what it says here,” she responded.
Perez was ultimately ordered to have no contact with the victims or their three children, either directly or indirectly.
Meanwhile, a notice left on the front door of the victims’ home from their landlord states that they now have 15 days to vacate the property. According to the letter, the victims have a month-to-month lease.