NMB Attempted Murder-Suicide Leaves Neighborhood Shaken
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MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) – An investigation continues in a North Miami Beach neighborhood in what police believe is an attempted murder-suicide.
Calm and quiet has been restored to a North Miami Beach neighborhood, but what happened at a home on NE 19th Ave. and 180th St. Friday evening left neighbors shaken up.
North Miami Beach Police responded to the home at around 6:30 p.m. to reports of shots fired.
"I heard very loud sounds like it could be possibly gunshots. So I come down the street and from the crowd I heard that somebody's wife got shot," said Indira Machado, who lives in the neighborhood.
Police pulled up to find a woman shot in the face, but weren't sure if a threat was still inside the home.
"We had units around the corner and they were there within a moment or two. They pulled up to the house and immediately secured around the house and set up a perimeter and they located a woman sitting on the driveway, in a plastic chair, bleeding from the face, already shot," said North Miami Beach Officer Kathy Katerman.
Rescue crews rushed the woman to Aventura Hospital, while police spent hours trying to communicate with anyone possibly inside the home.
Police eventually sent in a robot with a camera and discovered a man dead on the floor.
"That kind of stuff don't happen around here. It's like weird. That lady say yesterday, this only happens on TV," said neighbor Alrremi Jimenez.
Friends and property records identified the man as 56-year-old Manuel Leon and the woman as 52-year-old Lidia Lopez, better known as "Gigi."
Friends told CBS4 News the two had been together more than 30 years and court records show they had been married exactly three weeks.
Neighbors said they would often see the woman sitting outside – the same place where she was found shot Friday night, but they'd rarely see her husband.
"I just see them, say hi, wave. That's about it. They were cool people though," said Jimenez.
According to authorities, the victim remains in critical condition but is stable as they keep her sedated for now.