HIALEAH, Fla. – The victim in Thursday’s shooting at a Hialeah motel went there as part of his practice of Santería, but then the man he went there with needed to finalize a “fraudulent business deal” and the victim wound up getting shot, according to police.
It all went down just before 11:30 a.m. at the Rainbow Inn Motel, located at 2801 W. Okeechobee Road, authorities said.
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According to a report from the Hialeah Police Department, a witness reported that he drove the victim to the motel so he could meet with his padrino, or the person who initiated him into the Santería religion.
Things would change, however, when the witness got a call from Kevin Ravelo, 22, asking where he was so they could finalize a “fraudulent business deal,” the report states.
According to police, the witness told investigators that Ravelo pulled up in his white 2023 Chevrolet Corvette, asked the witness if the victim’s car, a 2015 Mercedes-Benz, belonged to someone he doesn’t “f--- with,” then grabbed a gun and placed it into his waistband “cartel-style” and went up to the victim’s car.
The victim got out of the car, and then an argument broke out, the report states.
In an interview with police, the victim said Ravelo told him “I heard you been talking s---,” and the argument escalated, leading the victim to punch Ravelo, police said, causing Ravelo to fall to the ground.
Police said the victim then retreated and was no longer aggressive when Ravelo began “shooting wildly” at him, striking him several times.
The victim told police he began yelling to Ravelo: “Why did you shoot me, bro?”
Police said they later located the victim lying on his back in the parking lot with several gunshot wounds to his left arm. He was eventually airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center and survived.
They said Ravelo fled the scene but they later located him nearby along West 29th Street.
Police wrote that in an interview with investigators, Ravelo claimed that the victim kept attacking after he had fallen to the ground following the punch, saying the victim “towered over him to continue the attack.”
According to the report, however, CCTV footage contradicted that account and it instead showed the victim retreating.
Ravelo, who also lives in Hialeah, was taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where he was scheduled to be released on a $25,000 bond after being charged with attempted murder, according to jail records.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct that the witness, rather than the victim, received the call from the suspect for the alleged “deal,” according to the report.