Police: ‘Irate’ woman urged man to shoot over ‘vulgar’ words outside Miami-Dade mall

Disdain over alleged vulgarities prompt recent Midway Crossings parking lot shooting, records show

Leonor Rodriguez was arrested outside of the Midway Crossings mall by a Miami-Dade police officer. (MDCR)

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Sixty-year-old Leonor Rodriguez never pulled the trigger when a man was shot in the parking lot of a west Miami-Dade mall Thursday, but she faced an attempted murder charge just the same, according to police.

That’s because police say Rodriguez encouraged the suspect, whom police were still looking for Friday, to shoot the man because she was “irate” over “vulgar statements” the victim made to her during an altercation in the Midway Crossings parking lot.

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The shooting happened just after 12:30 p.m. outside the half-century-old mall, once- and perhaps better known as the “Mall of the Americas,” located at 7795 W. Flagler St. in the Fontainebleau area.

According to a Miami-Dade Police Department arrest report, after hearing those “vulgar statements,” Rodriguez, who lives in the Coral Terrace area of southwest Miami-Dade, got on the phone and made a call.

Soon after, while Rodriguez was still on the phone, the man pulled up and exited his red Toyota, police said. Rodriguez told him where to go, pointing out the victim, according to the report.

“The driver then re-entered his vehicle and retrieved a firearm and proceeded to fire approximately (six) rounds at the victim, striking him one time in the arm,” an MDPD investigator wrote.

All the while, Rodriguez was cheering it on, police said.

“Tíralo! Tíralo!” a witness said she shouted in Spanish, translating to “shoot him,” according to the report.

The shooter then got back in his Toyota and left after Rodriguez “encouraged him to flee,” police said.

Rodriguez then sat down on a chair and waited for police, an investigator wrote, not bothering to render aid.

The officer wrote that Rodriguez claimed she “did not know” the shooter nor was she related to him.

Rodriguez, a Cuban national, was being held without bond in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of Friday morning.


About the Author
Chris Gothner headshot

Chris Gothner joined the Local 10 News team in 2022 as a Digital Journalist.

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