An illegal alien who was convicted of violent crimes in the past was not deported despite an official order and allegedly carried out a brutal execution-style murder after being released.
David Paneque, 29, was caught on video preparing and hiding his handgun before pulling the weapon and executing another man, 31-year-old Leandro Lopez.
The footage was captured by a camera secretly installed in a parking garage in Miami, Florida.
Paneque was ordered deported years ago but his home country of Cuba accepts the return of very few of its criminal citizens, reported the Miami Herald. More than 37,000 Cubans face deportation orders as of late 2017.
“Where are they going to send me? Cuba doesn’t want me,” Paneque told officers during questioning just before his latest arrest. “They don’t want me here. They don’t want me there.”
WARNING: Video contains violent scenes.
He was charged on May 1 with the murder of Lopez.
Paneque was just 17 when he was first arrested for a violent crime. Police said he robbed a man at knifepoint outside a restaurant in November 2007. During the “violent struggle,” the victim was stabbed multiple times and airlifted to a hospital trauma center while Paneque, known at the time as “Psycho,” was later apprehended trying to cash the man’s check.
Paneque at the time of that arrest was on probation after being convicted of carrying a concealed weapon.
Paneque was sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempted murder and armed robbery. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Paneque was arrested as part of an operation targeting gang members that yielded 321 arrests.
Paneque was described as a Cuban national and the leader of the notorious Sur-13 Clicque gang. “He was arrested on July 11 in Miami. Paneque is amenable for removal based on recent criminal convictions for attempted felony murder, robbery with a firearm, and grand theft,” ICE stated in the 2008 press release.
“Street gangs pose a growing public safety threat to communities throughout this area. ICE will use every tool at our disposal to rid the streets of gangs, and that includes placing those who are here illegally into immediate deportation proceedings,” stated Anthony Mangione, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Miami at the time.
According to an arrest report obtained by the Herald, a detective saw an MS13 tattoo on Paneque when he was arrested. Paneque admitted to being part of the gang, saying he had been homeless and they “were like a family” to him.
While serving his sentence, Paneque was convicted of attacking corrections officers. When his time was complete in March 2017, ICE agents took him into custody and an immigration judge ordered him deported.
But on July 5, 2017, he was released under an “order of supervision.”
“There was no significant likelihood of removal in the foreseeable future,” an ICE spokeswoman told CBS Miami.
In the interrogation video released by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, Detective Juan Segovia spoke with Paneque, who shared pictures of his new son and said that he was no longer with the gang.
Paneque told the detective that he picked up Lopez down the street from the Turner Guilford Knight jail and drove to several strip clubs. Early that morning, Paneque said that he dropped Lopez back off at his SUV and went home.
Segovia then showed Paneque pictures of his Ford F-150 truck, which Paneque said was his vehicle. Paneque admitted he was the one behind the wheel.
Then, Segovia showed the suspect a photo of himself holding a gun to Lopez’s face. The images came from the surveillance video captured by the camera installed by a restaurant owner.
“I don’t know nothing,” Paneque said. “I plead the Fifth. I have the right to remain silent.”
