Bradenton home invasion ends in deadly shooting, Manatee County deputies say
.jpg "The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office says a home invasion at the River Club community in Bradenton turned into a fatal shooting.")
A suspected home invasion in Bradenton turned fatal late Thursday night after the homeowner confronted two intruders and shot one of them, the sheriff’s office said.
Just after 9 p.m., deputies say two masked men were caught on the homeowner’s video surveillance entering the back of a house on the 6700 block of Hickory Hammock Circle in the River Club community.
“This is the state of Florida. If you want to break into someone’s home, you should expect to be shot,” Sheriff Rick Wells said at a press conference Friday morning.
The homeowner, who was inside at the time, fired multiple shots from a semi-automatic 9 mm pistol, striking one of the alleged intruders, according to a news release. The other suspect fled on foot, deputies say.
The couple had been enjoying their night at home when the husband got the alert from the home security cameras and told his wife to get to a “safe place” before grabbing his firearm and walking into a bedroom where he was “immediately” confronted by one of the masked invaders already inside his home, Wells said.
Wells said the other masked invader, who was still climbing through the window, quickly backed out of the house and ran away.
Homeowner kills home invader, sheriff says
The injured man was taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where he died from his injuries at around 7 a.m. Friday morning, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies say they tracked the second alleged intruder with the help of K9 units and arrested him a few blocks away. The man was taken to a local hospital for minor injuries from a K9 bite and has since been released, according to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office identified the arrested suspect as 39-year-old Michel Soto-Mella and confirmed he was from Chile Friday afternoon.
Wells previously said at Friday’s press conference that he believed Soto-Mella had overstayed a 90-day visa that expired in September.
The alleged intruder who died has been identified as 27-year-old Jorge Nestevan Flores-Toledo from Mexico, according to the sheriff’s office. He also goes by the name Anibal Miller-Valencia and was arrested under that name in 2023 in Oak Brook, Illinois, where he served four months in jail for residential burglary before being released on parole in November, according to a news release.
The sheriff’s office said Miller-Valencia had an active warrant for parole violation and was considered armed and dangerous.
About six days ago, Wells said the Soto-Mella made his way from California to Tampa and was staying in a hotel before he and Flores-Toledo decided to go to Manatee County.
Wells said detectives are also working to see if the home invasion was an isolated incident or if the two men have been involved in any other burglaries in Manatee County. Detectives believe the two men used a pry bar to break into a window at the home but were otherwise unarmed, Wells said.
“We’re trying to get everything that we can from the (surviving) suspect,” Wells said. “He’s being somewhat cooperative, but he’s not telling us everything.”
Wells said the couple whose home was broken into is shaken up in what he described as a “traumatic event,” but praised the husband’s quick actions.
“I give him a lot of credit. He knew something bad was about to happen and he didn’t stall,” Wells said.
This story was originally published December 27, 2024 at 9:30 AM.
