LakelandPD officers responded to 3545 Lakeland Highlands Road on Sunday, April 28, 2024, at 7:12 p.m. to a report of a shooting.
The victim, a 33-year-old male, saw a physical confrontation happening between a man and woman near a vehicle at the entrance to the parking lot of Lowe’s. He did not know the two but felt compelled to intervene and yelled for the man to stop.
The male suspect, 28-year-old Leoncio Swaby of Wauchula, retrieved a firearm from his vehicle and fired several shots at the victim. The victim fled on a bicycle toward Wendy’s and was pursued briefly by Swaby in his vehicle. Swaby fired several more times at the victim, who was fortunately not struck. Swaby and the woman then fled in a southbound direction in their vehicle, a white Chevrolet Cruze.
Detectives and Forensic Services were called out to follow up and found six spent bullet casings at the scene. Detectives were able to identify Swaby as the suspect and secured a warrant for his arrest, charging him with Attempted Murder in the 2nd Degree. The next morning, Swaby was located and taken into custody by the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office.
Great job to all our members and the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office, who worked together to bring justice to the Victim and put an extremely dangerous felon in jail.