The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office responded to Key Largo Park at approximately 9:50 p.m. on March 8 regarding a shots fired call.
Deputies said no one with knowledge of the call could be located on scene. A short time later, a 16-year-old male victim with a minor/grazing gunshot wound to the hand as well as injuries to his legs from cell phone shrapnel caused by a bullet was treated at Mariners Hospital in Tavernier before he was airlifted to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital in Miami via Trauma Star.
Clothes matching the description of the suspect’s clothes as well as wallet with identifying information were subsequently found in a nearby canal by the Sheriff’s Office Dive Team.
The alleged shooter, Jonathan Enrique Valerio Paniagua, turned himself in at the Plantation Key jail on March 11 following the weekend shooting at Key Largo Community Park in which another male teenager suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Valerio Paniagua, 15, of Homestead, Florida, was charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery using a deadly weapon.
“I will not tolerate violent crime in this community regardless of the age of the offender,” said Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay. “I want to thank the men and women of the sheriff’s office who worked to resolve this case quickly.”
The investigation revealed a disagreement over a girl may have preceded the incident.
More charges may be pending.
