Deputies investigate man’s murder outside East Naples apartments

A man was found dead in his car after neighbors say they heard gunshots over the weekend, but it’s not confirmed if the man died due to gunshot injuries.

Saturday, Collier County Sheriff’s Office began investigating the murder of a man outside River Reach apartments in East Naples. Collier County deputies responded to the homicide investigation in the area along River Reach Drive, just off Airport-Pulling Road.

Not one of the neighbors or witnesses in East Naples we spoke to Monday had ever seen the murder victim before.

We talked to witness neighbor, who will remain anonymous, who discovered a man dead in his car. He says his car door was open and his head down on the steering wheel covered in blood

”I walked up, and there it was,” the witness said. “Just a guy shot to death.”

It’s an image the witness can’t erase from memory after a car slid across the parking lot of his apartment complex and crashed into a tree

”The door was open and everything,” the witness said. “I just saw the guy hanging out of a white car.”

Before the man was found dead neighbors say they heard gunshots, disrupting the peace in a usually quiet East Naples community Saturday morning.

“Saw all the yellow tape and all the sheriff’s department was out here,” neighbor Jacob Ruiz said.

“It was fairly hectic,” neighbor Bryon Mowrey said. “There was a lot going on. “There were officers everywhere”

Although the scene is clear, uncertainty lingers.

“It just kind of leaves a lot of questions,” Ruiz said

Cruz and other neighbors hope investigators get to the bottom of this man’s murder.

“It’s a little nerve-racking because we have a family,” Cruz said. “You wonder what’s going on in our neighborhood. Is this something that’s going to happen more often. Is it not? Hopefully not because I really like it here.”