HIALEAH, Fla. \u2014 Hialeah police detectives were able to use social media to track a suspect in a November robbery and carjacking to a man from the Orlando area, according to an arrest warrant.<\/p>\n
Records show deputies with the Lake County Sheriff\u2019s Office in central Florida took Axel Lopez Gonzalez, 23, of Davenport, into custody on Dec. 18. He was brought back to South Florida and booked into jail on Friday.<\/p>\n
According to the Hialeah Police Department, the incident happened the morning of Nov. 16.<\/p>\n
After a night of drinking with a friend in Miami Beach and North Miami, police said the victim drove to his friend\u2019s apartment complex, Pura Vida Hialeah at 3051 W. 16th Ave., to drop him off.<\/p>\n
Authorities said the victim took his friend up to his seventh-floor apartment \u2015 where an \u201cunknown male\u201d answered. After leaving his friend inside, police said the victim and the unknown man walked back to the victim\u2019s car to get the rest of his friend\u2019s belongings.<\/p>\n
The warrant states that the victim was in the driver\u2019s seat of his 2014 Toyota 4-Runner \u201cwhen he was ambushed\u201d by multiple armed suspects.<\/p>\n
Police said the victim \u201cwas hit multiple times, pistol-whipped in the head, and dragged from the driver\u2019s seat to the rear seats\u201d as the assailants \u201cattempted to ransack his pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the warrant, the victim opened the rear door and jumped out as the suspects gave chase and was confronted at a dead end. <\/p>\n
One of the suspects demanded that he get back in the car, police said, telling him in Spanish, \u201cYou have to come with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c(The victim), in fear for his life, relinquished all the property from his pockets and told the subject to take everything,\u201d HPD Detective Tayron Vilorio wrote in the warrant. \u201cThe subject ultimately fled the scene on foot when a passerby intervened and (the victim) asked for help calling the police.\u201d<\/p>\n
Authorities said the suspects took the victim\u2019s cellphone, car keys and the SUV.<\/p>\n
Police later found his cellphone tossed out along Okeechobee Road near West Seventh Avenue. An Apple AirTag pinged just a block away from the crime scene at 1500 W. 29th St., where authorities said they found the SUV abandoned in the parking lot.<\/p>\n
Authorities said surveillance video later \u201ccaptured a male who was armed with a black and red rifle, wearing a black facemask, a distinct black hoodie with large white letters in the back that read \u2018MUHAMMAD,\u2019 black pants and black shoes with light colored laces, later identified as\u201d Lopez Gonzalez.<\/p>\n
Police said they identified three vehicles involved in the robbery \u2015 a Mercedes-Benz SUV, a Chevrolet Suburban and a BMW X3 \u2015 the first two were rented, but the BMW provided a key clue in the case: it was registered to an Orlando woman.<\/p>\n
A database search revealed she was in business with another man, quickly identified as one of the suspects through a neck tattoo on a photo posted to his public Instagram page that matched surveillance footage from the crime scene. <\/p>\n
While looking through that man\u2019s page, police said they identified another suspect through visible tattoos. They said while looking through that man\u2019s Instagram followers, they found Lopez Gonzalez, who had photos showing a distinctive hand tattoo that was also seen in surveillance footage.<\/p>\n
Police said the victim later identified Lopez Gonzalez and other suspects from a photo lineup. It wasn\u2019t immediately clear as of Monday morning whether any of the other suspects were in custody.<\/p>\n
Lopez Gonzalez, however, remained jailed in Miami-Dade as of Monday morning. He\u2019s being held without bond in the Metrowest Detention Center on charges of armed robbery and attempted armed kidnapping.<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n
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