Boy shot Sept. 3 near Stuart Police station case of mistaken identity, investigators say

STUART — When a 17-year-old boy was shot Sept. 3 while driving on Southeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near the Stuart Police Department, his would-be killers targeted him by mistake, according to an arrest affidavit that accuses two teenagers of attempted murder.

The unidentified boy, who drove his car to police headquarters seeking medical attention, suffered a graze wound to the head.

Officers found a bullet hole in the rear windshield of the white Chevrolet Cruze and “a possible bullet hole exit area on the front windshield,” reports stated.

At the time, the boy and an unidentified passenger were returning home from a Labor Day weekend “summer bash” at the Jensen Beach Causeway, according to a probable cause affidavit written by Stuart Police Officer Zachary Pecci.

Police at the scene recovered eight .45-caliber “spent shell casings” on the roadway, sidewalk and front yard of a home in the 300 block of Southeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Adult crimes

Two boys arrested in October related to the shooting are being prosecuted as adults, records show.

Kayden Marcantony Leonard, 16, of Stuart, and Elijah Jayland Laguerre, 17, of Port St. Lucie, face two counts of attempted murder and one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, according to charging documents.

Leonard faces additional gun charges in a separate case, including two counts of possession of a firearm after being found delinquent, and two counts of discharging a firearm in public.

If convicted as charged, Leonard and Laguerre face up to life in prison.

Both have pleaded not guilty and are being held without bond at the Martin County Jail, records show.

Assistant State Attorney David Lustgarten said the state decided to prosecute the teens as adults after conducting an analysis of the evidence collected during an ongoing investigation.

The juvenile justice system, he said, “would not have been sufficient or provide for sufficient punishment.”

“When you have two young men … engaged in this type of activity, where they go out of their way to plan and execute a murder, we need to move on this with seriousness,” he said.

In this case, Lustgarten added, “it was mistaken identity. They shot at the wrong person.”

Reached this week, Stuart lawyer Lance P. Richard, who represents Leonard, decline to comment. Attorney Whitney Duteau, who represents Laguerre, said she’s reviewing the state’s evidence and “exploring our options.”

GPS tracking surveillance

An investigation by Stuart police showed Leonard and Laguerre were at the same causeway party in a Honda Civic when they spotted the boy in a white Chevrolet Cruze who they followed to East Stuart.

The passenger with the boy told Pecci the two had arrived at 3 p.m. and “recognized most people from the different area high schools.”

Around 4 p.m., Martin County sheriff’s deputies “shut down the party,” so they headed home, Pecci was told.

Near the intersection of Southeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Southeast Dixie Highway in Stuart, the boy and his passenger noticed a gray Honda Civic following them. Looking out the rearview mirror, the boy saw a Black male wearing red pants and a gray shirt, “sitting completely outside of the front passenger’s side … with a black in color pistol in his hand,” Pecci wrote.

The passenger, who didn’t know the two men, “ducked and heard a shot.”

Investigators obtained surveillance video recorded between the Jensen Beach Causeway and East Stuart that showed a gray Honda Civic traveling the same path as the boy in his Chevrolet Cruze, which then “fled the area … after the shooting occurred.”

The Honda belonged to Lucson Laguerre, Sr., in Port St. Lucie, according to a registration check. With a judge’s approval, investigators on Sept. 9 installed a GPS tracking device on the vehicle, records show.

Two days later, sheriff’s deputies responding to a call about shots fired at Southeast Inez Avenue and Southeast Arthur Street, reported that a witness saw someone shoot into a wooded area then left in a gray Honda Civic. The witness said the same suspects “were responsible for another shooting on Sept. 7 in the same location.”

Minutes later, deputies stopped the Honda and found Elijah Laguerre driving. His passenger was a “missing juvenile out of Clay County,” Pecci reported.

Three iPhones belonging to Laguerre were seized.

Laguerre, who deputies confirmed was on juvenile probation, was arrested and transferred to the Martin County Jail.

Detectives later spoke to a Stuart woman living on Southeast Jack Avenue who confirmed that her son Kayden Leonard hung out with Laguerre.

Incriminating video

A video on Laguerre’s phone created on Sept. 3 at 4:18 p.m. showed him in the Honda’s driver seat recording Leonard in the passenger seat at the causeway.

“Both Elijah Laguerre and Kayden Leonard are holding one handgun each,” Pecci reported the video depicted.

Laguerre zoomed the phone camera on a black male walking toward the party wearing distinct red shorts, consistent with the clothing the boy had on when he was shot, Pecci noted.

They talked about whether the boy they saw was a person identified in a state filing as “Lil Sham.”

Laguerre and Leonard, the report stated, “spoke about wanting to shoot the individual.”

They realized that night the boy who was shot was not who they believed him to be.

“Later that evening,” Pecci reported, “Elijah Laguerre and Kayden Leonard text messaged each other talking about their misidentification.”

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Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers and is writer and co-host of "Uncertain Terms," a true-crime podcast. Reach her at  melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com. If you are a subscriber, thank you. If not, become a subscriber to get the latest local news on the Treasure Coast.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Two teens charged as adults in Sept. 3 shooting of Stuart boy