Kissimmee Police have made an arrest in connection with the death of a 66-year-old woman struck by gunfire around midnight at New Year’s.
Detectives identified Carlos Manuel Tejada, 44. KPD reports he was arrested Friday and charged with manslaughter by culpable negligence. No information on bail or a first court appearance is yet available through jail or court records.
Officers responded to the home on Gull Court off of Lakeside Drive just west of Simpson Road just after midnight on Jan. 1. A woman, later identified as Carmen Rosa Neira Ochoa, was found with "injuries consistent with a gunshot wound" and was immediately transported to a local hospital, where the victim was pronounced dead after her two daughters tried to provide lifesaving assistance. Police say the shots came from across a retention pond on Anhinga Drive.
Police are quick to discourage anyone from using gunfire to mark any sort of celebration, as shooting a gun in the air is dangerous and illegal, and those rounds fired must fall back to the earth and do so with as much or more force as when they leave the gun.
"I've been in law enforcement for 31 years, and celebratory gunfire has been there since my day one," Kissimmee Police Chief Robert Anzueto said at a press conference Friday afternoon. "People just don't get it, it's a stupid act, and I wish people realized there's a consequence to their actions, and shoot a gun into the air is absolutely unnecessary. It's only going to cause harm."
