2 dead, 2 hospitalized after shooting on 11th Terrace in Lehigh Acres

Two people are dead and two are in the hospital after a shooting at a home on 11th Terrace in Lehigh Acres.

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno gave a press conference on the investigation, Wednesday at around 11:30 a.m.

According to Marceno, 45-year-old Yohani de Lazaro arrived at the home owned by Danae Velazquez Alvarez before 7 a.m. wearing a ski mask and began shooting, killing a man and an elderly woman. He started to fight with another woman inside the home, ending with her being shot in the face.

Another man was able to overpower de Lazaro and leave him with blunt-force trauma.

The woman and de Lazaro have been hospitalized. Two children were in the home at the time of the attack, but neither were harmed.

Marceno said de Lazaro had a connection to someone in the home, and the shooting may be related to ongoing legal issues between de Lazaro and his spouse.

“There were legal issues going on between a domestic relationship, husband, wife, whatever their status might be. We’re not certain, but it is domestic between the two of them,” Marceno said.

De Lazaro and Alvarez were supposed to be in court on the day of the shooting, but neither parties showed up, according to the clerk of courts. They’ve been in a long running dispute over who has legal rights to the home.

Court documents say that de Lazaro tried twice since 2021 to quitclaim Alvarez’ property, which is a legal transfer of property to someone else.

While they were rejected, that led Velazquez and Alvarez to file a civil lawsuit against de Lazaro to make clear that de Lazaro is “not a valid owner of her property.”

She also asked a judge to have de Lazaro “declared to have no estate, right, title or interest in said parcel.”

In a counterclaim, de Lazaro and his attorney argued that de Lazaro was “placed on the title of the property pursuant to an agreement by the parties and the quitclaim deed was properly executed and recorded.”

“We heard yelling last night, but nothing really out of the ordinary,” said neighbor Stephanie Harkins. “I feel safe in my home, but there’s a lot of screaming and yelling in the area that doesn’t necessarily make me feel 100% safe.”

Harkins said she was not surprised to hear about a death investigation—she owns six dogs to protect her house.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.