Placido Moreno Torres, 49, of Lehigh Acres, will spend the rest of his life in prison for a June 2016 double murder. He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
Torres was found guilty as charged of two counts of Second Degree Murder with a Firearm and one count of Attempted Second Degree Murder – Possessing a Firearm following a three day trial in Lee County this January. He was also sentenced to 30 years in prison on the Attempted Murder charge which will be served concurrent to the second murder count.
The murders occurred outside of Torres’s Lehigh Acres home. Torres and one of the victims, a 44-yearold woman, were arguing when Torres struck her and she yelled out for help. A 20-year-old Good Samaritan male neighbor came outside to try and intervene but Torres held up a revolver and shot both him and the woman.
As the shooting happened, the neighbor’s sister came outside and tried to help her brother. Torres then pointed the gun at her face and pulled the trigger, but the gun did not discharge. She was able to get away while Torres fled on foot.
Despite being shot once in the side and once in the back, the second victim was able to use his phone to call 911 and tell them who shot him. His family then put both gunshot victims in their SUV to try to get them to the hospital to save their lives but were met down the street from the crime scene by an ambulance. Both victims were pronounced dead on scene.
Deputies found Torres the next morning hiding in the backyard of another person’s home where he was arrested.
Assistant State Attorneys Tyler Lovejoy and Leena Marcos prosecuted the case.
Samantha Syoen
Communications Director
State Attorney’s Office
239-533-1125
ssyoen@sao20.org