MARTIN COUNTY – New details have emerged from a shooting incident which occurred at about 1 p.m., Oct. 2 at Gary’s Towing & Recovery, 4405 SE Cove Rd., Stuart, about a half-mile west of Southeast Dixie Highway in Port Salerno.
Two women were taken into custody at separate times following the shooting, where one of the women pulled a gun from a car she had gone to pick up at Gary’s Towing and shot at two other people with whom she was involved in an altercation at the towing yard, according to Sheriff John Budensiek.
“We did recover multiple projectiles from inside of Gary’s Towing office — (bullets) flew threw the trailers,” Budensiek said in a press briefing following the shooting.
Jade Ely Rondon, 23, went to the facility on Southeast Cove Road in Port Salerno with Valerie Valdez, 22, to claim a vehicle which was towed there earlier in the day. Both women are from Miami.
Other individuals in another vehicle arrived at the facility and the two parties became involved in an altercation, sheriff’s investigators say.
Rondon allegedly retrieved a firearm and fired multiple shots at the other individuals before getting into the car she had gone to pick up and fled the area, Budensiek said.
“They got into some type of argument about belongings in the car, all that was in the car was a couple of guns,” Budensiek said. “We’re sure that shots were fired, we’re sure that she fled our deputies.”
The car might have been involved in some kind of criminal activity the night before, then was reported stolen and detectives recovered it on Oct. 2, according to Budensiek.
Because the tow yard is about a half-mile from Murray Middle School, about a mile east of U.S. 1, the Sheriff’s Office activated an active-shooter response and placed the school on temporary lockout as deputies responded to the scene.
Detectives located the vehicle the woman was driving on Cove Road near U.S. 1 and attempted a traffic stop. The woman tried to flee but deputies blocked her path by striking the side of the car, bringing the vehicle to a stop.
Valdez left the scene in the car she came to the towing yard in and apparently drove south on U.S. 1 at a high-rate of speed, causing an accident near the 8400 block of U.S. 1, Hobe Sound at about 2 p.m.
“The other female was driving erractically passing cars, ended up losing control, going over into the oncoming lane and having a significant crash,” Budensiek said. “Why she was driving that high rate of speed, why she was weaving out of traffic, we’re not sure, we weren’t chasing her. We didn’t know for sure that car was involved at that time.”
It is unclear whether anyone else was injured in the accident, but Valdez reportedly was taken to Cleveland Clinic in Port Salerno before being medically cleared and taken into custody, sheriff’s investigators say.
The two people who Rondon allegedly shot at left the scene before sheriff’s deputies arrived.
Gary Reed, owner of Gary’s Towing, was not at the property at the time but told reporters later that he got a frantic call from a woman working there when the shooting happened.
“The young lady who works in my office, she was terrified,” he said. “The young lady went to see what was going on and all of a sudden, she heard gunfire.”
He then immediately went to the lot, “my heart racing. Running as fast as I can. I love my employees, I love all the people around me. I want them safe. Thank God that everybody’s OK.”
Rondon was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm; discharging a firearm in public; aggravated fleeing and eluding; driving while license suspended; and felony criminal mischief.
Valdes was cited for operating an unregistered motor vehicle and four counts of reckless driving with injuries.
Their booking status is unknown as of Oct. 3.
More charges may be forthcoming although the sheriff’s office needs more answers about the incident, Budensiek said.
“I have more questions than I have answers. They are giving varying accounts of what had taken place,” he said.