Being a landlord can be stressful sometimes: you have to deal with all sorts of tenants, and there is always the issue of receiving the rent money on time. Both issues can usually be settled by simply evicting the tenant, but one landlord in Hialeah, Fla., was determined to get that money by any means necessary and wound up allegedly killing the tenant as a result.
The suspect, 76-year-old Reineiro Espino Caballero, was arrested Saturday evening and charged with first-degree murder and armed burglary.
According to the arrest report, Caballero got into an argument with tenant Ramon Emilio Castillo, 46, about a $550 rent for an efficiency unit located at 4790 W. 12th Avenue that had been due since April 1. Caballero had sought the rent money, but Castillo cut the conversation short when he went back into his apartment and locked the sliding glass door to prevent the landlord from entering and bothering him further.
The rent might have been due on April Fool's Day, but Caballero wanting the money was no joke. To show just how serious he was, he went to his adjacent apartment, grabbed a gun and returned to the tenant's apartment. There, he shot toward the glass door, shattering it and causing glass to strike Castillo in the hip.
Caballero then entered Castillo's apartment, and the argument between the two reignited. However, things soon got physical, and the landlord overpowered the victim and fired off a single shot that struck Castillo in the face, killing him inside his apartment, according to the arrest report.
Police soon responded to the scene to find Castillo dead in his apartment and Caballero who surrendered without incident. He also provided a recorded statement admitting to his actions.
This isn't the first incident of gun violence that would befall Florida over the weekend. In related news, a man stabbed his wife after ambushing her inside a Chili's parking lot. He later came back to finish the job, running her over when two people who saw the incident tried to help. He then picked up his two children who were at the babysitter's at the time of the incident and allegedly killed them on the way to the hospital where his wife was being treated. The incident reached its climax when he ended his own life as police were preparing to apprehend him on I-4.
In the meantime, Caballero was carted off to jail and faces first-degree murder and armed burglary charges. It's unclear whether he has a lawyer to represent him.