CORAL GABLES, Fla. — A 47-year-old Honduran man is accused of attacking a co-worker with a machete during a dispute over a parking space at a Coral Gables construction site, police confirmed.
According to an arrest report from the Coral Gables Police Department, officers were dispatched Wednesday to a reported battery involving a deadly weapon.
Upon arrival, police said they found the victim suffering from a red mark on his right shoulder.
The victim told police he and the suspect, Meldin Omar Lopez, had been arguing about parking when Lopez struck him on the back with the flat side of a machete, according to the report.
Two witnesses who were also working at the construction site told officers they saw Lopez hit the victim and that the victim never mentioned having a gun.
A third worker took the machete away and hid it in a pile of sand until Coral Gables police arrived.
Police said Lopez was taken into custody and later made a statement after being read his Miranda rights, though the contents of that confession were redacted from the publicly-released report.
They said the machete was collected as evidence, and Lopez was booked into jail on one count of aggravated battery with a weapon causing great bodily harm.
As of Thursday morning, he remains on an immigration hold at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
