MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A 17-year-old woman shot and killed in the parking lot of a west Miami-Dade hookah bar and nightclub two years ago was not the intended target, according to new details.
Gabriela Aldana was at the Hookah Palace when investigators said Yondeivis Wongden-Hernandez shot into a crowd of people, striking Aldana in the head and killing her.
The arrest warrant says that Aldana posted a picture on Instagram of herself and her friend, Jose Manuel Machado Batista, with the location of the Hookah Palace.
Wongden-Hernandez saw the picture of Aldana and it enraged him. He then drove to Hookah Palace in his mother’s Mercedes Benz and circled the parking lot looking for Batista. According to investigators, Wongden-Hernandez had an ongoing dispute with Aldana’s friend over relationships with the same women.
On Friday, May 22 at 2 a.m., he shot into a crowd of people with the intended target being Batista, according to the warrant. Aldana died two hours after being transported to a local hospital.
A judge on Wednesday ordered that he be held without bond for Aldana’s murder.
Randy Rodriguez Fernandez was the getaway driver, according to the warrant. Sunpass video captured the car he was driving fleeing north on the Florida turnpike. The warrant stated that two suspects fled to Mexico with an ex-girlfriend’s cell phone.
Carlos Paterson-Torres, the murder suspect’s cousin, is accused of ditching the getaway car 230 miles away in Bushnell, Fla. He also appeared in court on Wednesday.
Aldana’s mother, Susana Martinez Gispert, made a public statement in December 2020 begging someone to come forward with information. A $15,000 reward was also offered for information leading to the arrest.
Police said it was that plea that helped lead them to the suspects, who were arrested on Tuesday.
The two alleged accomplices, Rodriguez-Fernandez and Paterson-Torres, are charged with accessory after the fact.
Rodriguez-Fernandez and Paterson-Torres were each given a $15,000 bond and has been placed on house arrest.
Aldana’s family released a statement on Wednesday in English and Spanish.
“We would like to take this moment to thank the Miami-Dade Police Department for a job well done. We are very grateful to the investigators, for working tirelessly and never giving up on our daughter’s case. We thank the community for always giving us support with words of encouragement and prayers. We will allow the justice system to take its course and we hope these individuals receive the maximum weight of the law.”
“Queremos tomar este momento para dar las gracias al Departamento de Policía de Miami-Dade por su gran labor. Estamos eternamente agradecidos a los investigadores que trabajaron incasablemente y nunca se rindieron en el caso de nuestra hija. Le queremos dar las gracias a la comunidad por su apoyo y sus oraciones. Dejaremos que el sistema judicial tome su curso y esperamos que estos individuos reciban la pena máxima de la ley.”