LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – Lake County deputies investigating separate reports of a suspicious person and a shooting earlier this month said on Thursday that there remain no suspects and no leads.
Deputies initially responded around 9:15 p.m. on Oct. 10 to the 25000 block of Troon Avenue regarding the suspicious person complaint, stating in a case report that the subject of the complaint was seen on surveillance video walking around an unoccupied residence that was undergoing renovations. The complainant was not at the scene due to how they witnessed the subject on said surveillance video, deputies said, but the subject wasn’t there either.
During the deputies’ response, another complaint was received from an address along PGA Drive, this time in regard to a bullet going through a sliding glass door, the report states. The location of the door was about 100 feet from the area of the suspicious person complaint, deputies said.
Just a minute after dispatch received the shooting complaint, another call about a shooting came in from about a block away, according to the report.
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A search of the area for a shooter was met with negative results, as were further attempts to contact the complainant of the suspicious person, deputies said. Additionally, the homeowner who called in the bullet through the door had picked the bullet up with their bare hands and placed it into a sandwich bag, the report states.
No suspect information was available at the time of this report, yet the sheriff’s office said in a statement to News 6 that “the casing found at the scene was sent off to FDLE for analysis.” Given that bullets and bullet casings are different things, it was not specified whether the casing was found at the house that was shot, at the unoccupied residence or otherwise.
Robert Mota and his family live near the house under construction on Troon Avenue. The bullet came through his home.
“It was very close and I looked at it and I think God blocked that bullet,” Mota said. “I give Him the credit and I don’t know how it missed her.”
News 6 checked in with Mota on the phone while he was at work on Thursday. He said when the bullet crashed through their sliding glass door last Tuesday it sounded like a large glass vase smashing into the floor.
“You ever drop a really loud vase on the floor, and it just has that crashing noise?” Mota said. “And then on top of that, my daughter yelling ‘Dad, someone is shooting at us.’”
Mota said they no longer feel safe in their home.
“It’s just not what Sorrento used to be,” Mota said. “And be honest, me and my wife already had a discussion about it. It’s time to go. I just — we just don’t feel safe there now.”
Lt. John Herrell with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said they have not been able to connect the unknown man at the home on Troon Avenue with either shooting last Tuesday.
“We haven’t identified that person yet, so we would love to be able to do that,” Herrell said. “And that’s why we would love to hear from anyone in the community who may be able to help us identify that person. But right now, that person is at large and we don’t know who that was.”
Herrell said the agency currently has no leads or suspects.
“The homeowner does not know of any enemies who would want to cause harm to him or his family,” Herrell said. “So right now, we’re just really at a loss and trying to establish some new leads.”
Herrell encourages anyone with information to call Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS.
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