News and Investigations

A man was fatally shot in unincorporated Haines City Saturday morning, September 24, 2022, and detectives from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office have charged three men with his murder; the suspects and victim are all from Orange County.

All three suspects were arrested in Orlando and booked into the Orange County Jail, and are being charged with 1st Degree Murder (FC) and Tampering with Evidence (F3). They have been identified as:

° Felix Jomar Agosto Velazquez, 25, of Orlando 
° Joel Javier Ortega, 29, of Orlando
° Bryan Jose Colon Deleon, 26, of Orlando

“The victim was shot and left to die in a very rural part of the county. With very little information to start with, our homicide detectives were able to determine all three of his killers, and get them charged in about 24-hours. Our prayers go out to the victim’s family, and hopefully they’ll see justice carried out swiftly against these three murderers.” – Grady Judd, Sheriff

Deputies were originally dispatched to the area of Lake Marion Creek Road and Midway Road at around 12:35 a.m. Saturday morning, in regards to a man stumbling on the road, covered in blood.

The 26-year old man was found by deputies, lying next to the road, with multiple gunshot wounds. He was transported to a local hospital where he died a few hours later.

Several shell casings were recovered at the scene and detectives began looking for a black Mercedes that was reported to have been in the area.

The Mercedes was soon identified, and that lead to the identification of Felix Jomar Agosto Velazquez. 

Felix, Joel Javier Ortega, and Bryan Jose Colon Deleon were said to have been friends of the victim, and had spent a lot of time together in recent days. The three suspects were together at the time Orange County deputies took them into custody.

PCSO detectives searched a storage unit belonging to Felix and discovered that he visited there less than seven hours after the shooting. Detectives found ammunition in the storage unit that matched the ammunition found at the crime scene, and also found firearms which were capable of firing that type of ammunition.

During interviews with the detectives, each suspect confirmed they were together with the victim in the black Mercedes Benz, and near the area where the shooting occurred, but they refused to provide additional information.