LCSO investigating Lehigh Acres shooting after victim dies in the hospital

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a homicide in Lehigh Acres after a gunshot victim died at Lehigh Regional Medical Center on Saturday.

LCSO says they were called to the medical center in reference to someone who had been shot and died while at the hospital. Deputies went to the hospital to investigate and found the victim’s vehicle with apparent bullet holes. They did not say how the victim arrived at the hospital.

Rich Kolko is the WINK News Safety and Security Specialist. “Pretty standard for any hospital or medical facility to notify law enforcement of gunshot victims knifing victims. In case there was a criminal act that occurred that brought that victim into the hospital,” said Kolko.

Deputies say they believe the shooting took place near the area of Bennington Drive and Baieriue Circle in Lehigh Acres but say they are still investigating the exact details. That is about 12 minutes away from the hospital where the victim died.

Andy Kerner has only lived in this neighborhood for four months. He was surprised to hear that his community is now a piece of a homicide investigation. “I would love to know what’s up. I don’t want to hear from a couple of news guys knocking on the door saying a guy died. That’s not great.” said Kerner.

Now, deputies are trying to figure out who shot and killed a man.

Lee County deputies did say they found the victim’s car. And when detectives with the major crimes unit found that car, they saw what they believed to be bullet holes.

Kolko says the vehicle could be the car could contain clues that are crucial to this investigation. “Crime scene people will be able to recreate some of the things that happened. They’ll find out if the vehicle was shot at while it was moving. While it was parked,” Kolko said.

“Can they recover some of the bullets in the car or actually in the victim. You know to possibly identify, you know what weapon was used,” said Kolko.

LCSO says the shooting appears to be an isolated incident.

Kolko says these investigators aren’t just looking at the car. They’ll also want to check the victim’s cell phone to see who he had been in contact with. They’ll also need to go through any photos that were taken.