Leesburg police say they have a “person of interest” in custody in connection with a failed carjacking attempt Monday morning that left an 80-year-old man with a gunshot wound.
Detectives were interviewing the person late Monday afternoon and continuing their investigation into the incident, which took place at the Southside Plaza at 1415 S 14th Street, in the parking lot in front of a popular Sav-A-Lot store.
Officers were called to the shopping plaza around 9:30 a.m., where they found the 80-year-old victim with a gunshot wound to the leg. He told officers a black man armed with a handgun demanded his keys and when he wouldn’t give them to him, he was shot. The victim was airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he was treated and released, police say.
Shortly after the shooting, Leesburg officers established a perimeter around the area and requested a K-9 unit to respond. But initial attempts to locate the suspect were unsuccessful after an extensive ground search.
The suspect has been described as a thin black male, about 5-foot-nine-inches tall, in his late-twenties or early-thirties. He was last seen wearing a gray hoodie, white tank top, black/gray camo shorts and black shoes, police say.
