Older couple shot trying to pass crowd in Lehigh Acres

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office says someone fired into an older couple’s pick-up truck in Lehigh Acres while they were on their way to Key West, and the people involved are still on the run.

Crime Stoppers said all the older couple did was attempt to drive through the intersection at night with a large crowd on hand. And that’s when the couple got shot for it.

Pictures and videos on social media from the early morning of March 19 paint a different picture than the place Brian Radan and Lori Smith envisioned when they moved to Lehigh Acres.

“There’s pockets like any other city you know, we’re you know, we’re not to go where to go you know, so but that’s just sad that it’s reaching everywhere in Lehigh,” Raden said.

Brian and Lori moved to Lehigh Acres in Sept. 2022. The video from the corner of Milwaukee Boulevard and Homestead Road has them unnerved.

You can see a truck trying to back up with the boat behind it. Then the driver tries moving forward to get away from the surrounding crowd. And a man in a black hoodie pulls up. Crime Stoppers said he fired one shot into the car which hit two elderly victims.

“It’s tragic. I just I can’t fathom how some people can do that,” Smith said.

The shot was fired around 4 a.m. on Sunday just about 40 minutes beforehand a picture was taken of the crowd at the intersection. That’s where dozens of people filled in on the roadside corners.

Longtime Lehighers say too often they see cars quickly going through the Milwaukee Blvd. and Homestead Rd. intersection.

“You can hear them at night, especially. Yeah, hear them off in the distance doing crazy things. And I figure it’s all back around in here,” Lehigh Acres resident, James Soto said.

The gunman is still on the loose and the sheriff’s office is asking people to come forward if they were at the intersection Sunday morning. But neighbors are proposing a plan to try and make things safer in the area.