Pembroke Pines man accused of killing 92-year-old neighbor could face death penalty

A grand jury indictment of a Pembroke Pines man on a first-degree murder charge in the February 2020 death of a 92-year-old neighbor means the Broward State Attorney’s Office can decide to pursue the death penalty.

A state attorney’s spokesman, asked if the office planned to seek the death penalty in case of a conviction on the first-degree charge, said the office has 45 days after arraignment to make that decision.

Wesley Perez, 25, will formally face the first-degree murder charge at 8:30 a.m. Friday. He is accused of killing Fernando Frías, the father of Miami Herald food editor Carlos Frías.

“No justice will bring back my dad,” Carlos Frías said in a statement on Twitter. “No vengeance will restore his grandchildren’s innocence. What I hope for is accountability — yes, from the justice system, but also from our society, which prioritizes a love of guns over the lives of our loved ones.”

Perez already was facing a second-degree murder charge. Court records say that on April 19, defense attorney Jose Baez received a 90-day extension on filing a notice of intent to rely on a defense of insanity.

Baker Act, released, then arrested

Pembroke Pines police first sent Perez to Hollywood’s Memorial Regional Hospital under the Baker Act on Feb. 29, 2020, before arresting him after he came home on March 2.

An arrest report says an “incoherent” 911 call ending with a hangup brought Pines police to 10010 SW Sixth Ct., where they found Perez in his pool and fully clothed. What the Hialeah native was babbling to them didn’t make sense at the time, so officers had him involuntarily held for psychological observation.

No 911 call was placed by the neighbor who the report said told police she’d heard three or four gunshots about 30 minutes before they showed up at Perez’s. She said she assumed they were there about the shooting.

The next day, March 1, Rogerio Frías, another son of Fernando Frías, stopped a Pembroke Pines police officer after finding his father shot dead. Fernando had been living with Carlos’ family in Miami since May 2019, but would go back to the home he’d owned since the 1980s to visit friends and pick fruit.

Officers say 13 casings and an empty magazine from a .40-caliber Glock were next to Fernando Frías’ body by the front door. He had been shot 11 times.

The officers from the previous day realized Perez’s babbling likely meant something. When they translated Perez’s Spanish and English babbling on their body-camera footage, they realized he was yelling, among other things, “Fernando, do you know who I am!” and “40 by 40!” a reference to the Glock.

Surveillance video from a neighbor showed Perez, a neighborhood acquaintance, going toward Frías’ house at 3:06 p.m. Feb. 29. At 3:28 p.m., Perez came running out with hands in the air.

The report says a search warrant turned up other guns, a box for a .40-caliber Glock, an empty magazine, ammunition for the Glock, but no Glock.

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