Here is what we know about fatal police-involved shooting in Homestead

A 34-year-old man died on Saturday during a police-involved shooting in Homestead that remained under investigation on Monday.

Here is what Local 10 News reported on the police-involved shooting:

Leandro Francisco Ledea Chong, who police officers killed on Saturday in Homestead, had been arrested on Oct. 14, 2023, left, and Sept. 18, 2023, in Miami-Dade, county records archived on Google Images show. (MDCR)
  • Capt. Fernando Morales, a spokesman for the Homestead Police Department, identified the man who police officers fatally shot as Leandro Chong.
  • Relatives identified the man who died as Leandro Francisco Ledea Chong.
  • Ledea Chong’s mother, Katia Chong, said her son was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
  • Ledea Chong’s girlfriend, Madeleine Cabrera said he had appeared before a judge on March 22 to discuss his need for mental health treatment
  • Morales reported there were two Homestead police standoffs last week at the one-story home along Sunrise Boulevard.
  • The standoff on Friday ended without incident.
  • A witness video shows officers pointing their guns at Ledea Chong on Friday as he talked to himself at the door of the house along Sunrise Boulevard. He had a fanny pack hanging from his neck.
  • The second standoff at the home at the Villas of Sunrise community, west of Northeast Fifth Street and Southwest 162 Avenue, was on Saturday.
  • Surveillance video recorded by Ledea Chong’s neighbor captured the sound of three shots fired at 2:30 a.m., on Saturday.
  • Morales said Homestead police officers responded to investigate a report of a shooting on Saturday morning and they reported Chong threw items at them and put his hands in a fanny pack.
  • Luisa Delvals and Karen Jam set up a GoFundMe page claiming Katia Chong “called the rescue to take him to his rehab and he agreed but then the cops showed up all pointing weapons at him.” They also claim that when police officers shot him all Ledea Chong had in his fanny pack were his keys, a rehab brochure, and a screwdriver.
  • Delvals and Jam claim that after Ledea Chong was shot, “he ran inside of fear to the bathroom to grab something to help the bleeding he ran to his room dragging his body and running and they shot him to death in his room.”
  • On Sunday, the home where Ledea Chong had lived had blood stains on the walls. The front door was riddled with bullets. A closet door had a bullet hole. Neighbors were fearful. There were also bullet casings and ashes in the back of Daniel Lopez’s truck.
  • The Florida Department of Law Enforcement was investigating the police shooting and referred all questions to the Homestead Police Department on Monday.

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About the Authors

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.

Terrell Forney joined Local 10 News in October 2005 as a general assignment reporter. He was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, but a desire to escape the harsh winters of the north brought him to South Florida.

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