Man Accused In Palmetto Expy. Shooting Charged With Attempted Murder
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The man accused of shooting at drivers on the Palmetto Expressway appeared before judge a day after the incident.
Horvin Ruiz was denied bond and will remain behind bars, a judge ruled Tuesday afternoon.
Miami-Dade Police tweeted out a stunning photo showing a small Arsenal of weapons confiscated from Ruiz's home including a shotgun, an AK47, several handguns and two revolvers.
"He more or less keeps to himself. Every now and then give me some bread," said neighbor Freddy Vargas.
Ruiz, who works in a bakery, still hasn't given a reason for the shooting rampage.
But another neighbor has a theory.
"I am a nurse and I know behavior… and I know he has problems," said Alex Mahoney.
CBS4 has also obtained new surveillance tape from two businesses next to the Palmetto Expressway that show the tense moments right after the shooting as the highway fills up with police cars rushing to the scene.
Robert Valdes, the owner of Motor Service Inc., told CBS4's Peter D'Oench, "Nothing like this has ever happened before. I heard before the Palmetto was built people in Miami used to shoot out of the windows of their cars. But this was crazy. It's nuts. I was worried my windows would have been hit as I just replaced them and that's pricey. But I had no damage and thank God no one was seriously hurt or this happened when more people would have been around."
Ruiz's initial bond court hearing Tuesday morning was postponed for several hours in order to give both sides more time to determine exactly how many victims there are.
Ruiz faces numerous charges including 16 counts of attempted first degree murder.
He is even charged with child abuse after police say he fired at a car with his pregnant wife and three children inside it.
On Monday, police said Ruiz was driving south on the Palmetto Expressway (SR-826) when he turned his car into oncoming traffic and crashed into another car. He then allegedly got out and started firing using an AK-47. Several cars were hit.
According to the police, Ruiz also had a handgun and shot 108 rounds in total.
Police then got into a shootout with Ruiz, before he surrendered.
Enrique Bendana survived a frightening ordeal. A bullet smashed through his rear passenger window and ripped through his passenger headrest before exiting the front windshield. Amazingly, Bendana suffered only some cuts from the glass in the car but nothing else.
"If I would have had a passenger it would have been dead in an instant," said Bendana.
Victim Simone Evans did not want to show her face but she did show the bullet hole in the windshield of her car. Her partner was sitting in the passenger seat but he was unharmed. Evans said as they drove south on the Palmetto they saw flickers of light. They were gunshots.
"All of a sudden we started seeing flashing lights and hearing popping noises and we ducked," said Evans. "At the moment, our concern was to get off the highway. We were sitting ducks."
As for the motive into the shooting, police are investigating.
They say witnesses and anyone who thinks he or she may have also been victimized should call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477).
