{"id":166223,"date":"2026-02-23T22:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T22:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/166223\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T22:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T22:47:11","slug":"gay-man-killed-in-shooting-outside-savoy-orlando-suspect-charged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/166223\/","title":{"rendered":"Gay man killed in shooting outside SAVOY Orlando, suspect\u00a0charged\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

A small memorial forms across from SAVOY Orlando on Feb. 23. (Photo by Asa Carvajal)<\/p>\n

ORLANDO | A\u00a0gay\u00a0man\u00a0was killed\u00a0outside popular LGBTQ+ nightclub SAVOY Orlando<\/a> after\u00a0a verbal and physical altercation\u00a0early Feb. 22.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The incident occurred\u00a0at\u00a0approximately 2:31 a.m. in the 1900 block of North Orange Avenue, north of Lake Ivanhoe,\u00a0according to the Orlando Police Department<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When OPD arrived at the scene, they\u00a0found Julien Emmanuel Cruz, 33, with a gunshot wound. He\u00a0was transported\u00a0to a nearby hospital, where he later died, police said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cruz\u2019s father, Anthony Cruz,\u00a0told\u00a0WESH 2 that\u00a0his son\u00a0was gay and was at SAVOY with his\u00a0partner enjoying the evening.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son\u2019s supposed to be burying me, I\u2019m not supposed to be burying my son,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m numb\u2026\u00a0I\u2019ve been crying all day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

An investigation revealed\u00a0an\u00a0altercation that took place on the sidewalk prior to the shooting. The suspect, later identified as Jean Gabriel Borja Gil De La Madr, 37, is\u00a0being charged\u00a0with second degree murder with a firearm.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gabriel Borja\u00a0was arrested, but Cruz\u2019s father and partner said there was another individual who\u00a0actually pulled\u00a0the trigger.\u00a0OPD states the\u00a0suspect retrieved a firearm from his vehicle and shot the victim.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cruz said the two were exiting\u00a0SAVOY\u00a0after it closed when a car sped by, and Cruz\u2019s partner yelled at two people in it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said they\u00a0stopped\u00a0and one began fighting with Cruz\u2019s partner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they fought, my son saw that was happening, my son went to intervene and when he intervened, another guy got out of the car, and he got shot,\u201d he said. \u201cMy son didn\u2019t deserve what happened. All I have left is a shirt. A shirt with a bullet hole. And this is\u00a0just not\u00a0cool.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The suspect fled the scene in his vehicle, which was later\u00a0located\u00a0by patrol units at the\u00a0200\u00a0block of East New Hampshire Avenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A small memorial has\u00a0formed\u00a0across from SAVOY.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the\u202fshooting did not occur\u00a0on the property of SAVOY, the business put out a statement on Facebook saying they are \u201cheartbroken by the tragic incident\u201d that occurred.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur thoughts & deepest condolences are with the victim\u2019s family & everyone affected by this loss,\u201d\u00a0Brandon Llewellyn<\/a>, co-owner, wrote. \u201cWhile the incident did not occur inside\u00a0Savoy, we recognize the impact it has had on our surrounding community. We are cooperating fully with law enforcement as they continue their investigation.\u00a0The safety and well-being of our guests, staff, and neighbors will always remain our highest\u00a0priority.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Co-owner\u00a0Joshua Cooper<\/a>\u00a0spoke with Watermark Out News and\u00a0says\u00a0it was gut wrenching to speak to\u00a0Cruz\u2019s father. He says he\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0know Cruz but \u201cit\u2019s a lot to see someone in that level of pain for their child.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe thanked me and\u00a0said\u00a0\u2018I want to thank you for making a place that my son felt like he could be himself\u2019 \u2026\u00a0he seems like\u00a0a very supportive\u00a0father\u00a0and he seems like the father of a thousand gay men wish they had,\u201d\u00a0Cooper\u00a0shares.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A celebration of life will\u00a0be held\u00a0at SAVOY in the coming weeks, Cooper says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This marks the third homicide\u00a0of 2026\u00a0in Orlando.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Watermark Out News visited memorial\u00a0across from SAVOY Orlando and you can view our photos below. <\/p>\n

Photos by Asa Carvajal.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A small memorial forms across from SAVOY Orlando on Feb. 23. (Photo by Asa Carvajal) ORLANDO | A\u00a0gay\u00a0man\u00a0was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[79072,79073,28,78652,79074,78653,139,141,140,8416,42065],"class_list":["post-166223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-anthony-cruz","tag-brandon-llewellyn","tag-florida","tag-jean-gabriel-borja-gil-de-la-madr","tag-joshua-cooper","tag-julien-emmanuel-cruz","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-orlando-police-department","tag-savoy-orlando"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}