FLORIDA CITY, Fla. – Police made three arrests in Wednesday’s deadly shooting inside of a Florida City Walmart.
The shooting, which happened at around 3 p.m. at the chain’s location at 33501 South Dixie Highway, began with an altercation, according to police. Twenty-three-year-old Nathaniel Baez was killed and a 72-year-old man was shot in the foot.
Authorities arrested the alleged gunman, 25-year-old Steve Lestin, of Homestead, on charges of second-degree murder and attempted murder.
They also charged Roberto Acevedo, 20, who sources say was a Walmart employee, and Jimari Hodge, 21, with misdemeanor battery. Both men are from Florida City.
Sources said Acevedo, joined by Lestin and Hodge, started the fight with the victims that eventually escalated into gunfire.
The shooting led to panic and chaos throughout the store.
“I heard six shots,” witness Johnnie Pacheco said. “And then everybody was running away, and this guy came, and he fell down by where they do the nail stuff, and he got shot right there in the chest two times and he was bleeding. I don’t know if he’s dead, but the ambulance took him with the air tanks and everything to the hospital. The other guy got shot in the leg.”
Lestin confessed to firing the shots, according to a police report.
Anyone with further information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.