Posted on 04/11/2005 11:27:35 AM PDT by MisterRepublican
CRESCENT CITY, Fla -- A man is accused of shooting six members of a neighboring family he'd been having a long-running feud with. The victims' relatives say his anger peaked when his daughter began dating a boy from their family.
Members of the Soliz and Ortiz family said their feud with the neighbor Baldemar Riojas and his family has simmered for more than a year. The dispute became more heated when Riojas' teenage daughter started dating Miguel Soliz, 15, who was shot in the leg Sunday.
"All this started because they were dating," said Melva Ortiz, Miguel's mother. "I tried to tell him to leave the girl, but you know how kids are."
When the shooting was over, the 14-year-old girl, two 15-year-old boys, a 17-year-old boy, an 18-year-old man and a 22-year-old man were hospitalized with gunshot wounds.
Riojas, 46, was held on $15,000 bail on six counts of aggravated battery with a firearm. His son, Baldomero Riojas, 20, was questioned and released, but Putnam County sheriff's deputies plan to pursue a charge of reckless display of a firearm against him for firing into the air. A third man was being sought.
"A nice neighborhood has been disrupted with this," Sheriff Dean Kelly said.
Riojas' wife said her husband was not responsible for the shooting.
"My husband's not a violent person. He's been in the United States for 24 years and he's never been in trouble," Lisa Riojas told WJXT-TV of Jacksonville.
The violence had been building for hours. A fight broke out Saturday night among dozens of opposing family members.
Deputies responded to the fight and later reports of gunshots, but the sheriff's office said there was not enough information for an arrest.
(Excerpt) Read more at news4jax.com ...
Sounds like West Side Story....Tony and Maria...
Everything free in AmerRica....
NeverGore :^)
sounds like the capulets and the montagues...
"romeo, oh romeo wherever the heck areya?"
"hiding under the trash can - them bullets can hurt!"
Sounds like another "Here, hold ma beer" moment. What a moron!
He should never have bit his thumb at them.
The Earp-Clanton feud also supports the idea that The Feud is part of the US culture.
Romeo and Juliet, the Hatfields and McCoys, and now the Soliz and Ortiz. Will there be a movie of the week on them?
I used to live on Lake George about 15min from Crescent City. Not much goes on there except Palmetto bugs and bass fishing.
For a small fee in AmerRica !!! ;-))
Yeah, but our nation's character is changing. Now it's the "Solizeses y Ortizezes vs Riojaseses.
"Say, Buenas Noches, Dick." "Buenas Noches, Dick."
More Florida! No offense, but Florida sounds like a Hell hole.
I'd say 24 years is too long. Send him back to where he came from.
Just shows assimilation; come to the US, learn the feud.
Yep, it is. But it is OUR hell hole.
Think about it a little.
Old folks, sitting around waiting to die, Lowlands filled with gators, insects big enough to carry off the helpless. Justice system happy with terminating the helpless for profit, the remains to go to the bugs. People who claim the vote was rigged, because they didn't win, then claim something was wrong with the ballots, then claim someone must be cheating because with all the felons and dead who voted with them, there is no way numerically that they could have lost.
Water full of lawyers, courts full of sharks.
SOUNDS LIKE HELL TO ME.
24 years makes it likely he is a Cubano and came during the Mariel boatlift period, which was 01 April 1980 - 25 September 1980, so if he came in the latter part, it hasn't been 25 years just yet. FWIW, Cubans generally vote Republican. The Democrats remind them too much of what they left Cuba to get away from, and with good reason.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.