A pair of men have been arrested for the murder of a Lake City man Monday night in his driveway.
The Lake City Police Department announced Wednesday morning that Justin Torres, a 26-year-old from Wellborn, and Kendall Doty, a 25-year-old from Lake City, have been charged with homicide for the shooting Monday night in the northwest part of the city.
The LCPD release states Torres and Doty were identified as persons interest early in the investigation. The pair were found, interviewed, taken into custody without incident and charged for the shooting.
“The first 24 hours after this tragic incident, hundreds of hours of manpower were put into this investigation and arrests were made,” Lake City Police Chief Gerald Butler said in the release, thanking State Attorney John Durrett, Columbia County Sheriff Mark Hunter, Alachua County Sheriff Emery Gainey, Suwannee County Sheriff Sam St. John and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for help from their agencies in investigating the murder.
“I would like to reassure the citizens of Lake City this incident was not a random act of violence. Mr. Cruz Aleman was the specific target of these two individuals.”
Officers from the LCPD responded Monday night around 9:50 p.m. to a shooting in the 1000 block of NW Ashley Street where they found Cristopher Alid Cruz Aleman, 23, suffering with a gunshot wound.
A witness was performing CPR on Aleman, according to LCPD, before officers and EMS took over. However, Aleman died from his injuries.
Greg Burnsed, a spokesman for the LCPD, said Tuesday that Aleman had been shot in the face in his driveway. Officers did not know how many times he had been shot, awaiting word from the Medical Examiner’s Office.
“It was hard to tell at the scene,” Burnsed said.