EUSTIS, Florida—The name of the man shot and killed in Eustis Wednesday morning has been released.
Eddie Alexis Vazquez Muniz, 47, succumbed to gunshot wounds after being transported to a local hospital Wednesday following the altercation. According to Eustis Police Chief Craig Capri, Muniz had been in an ongoing dispute with the shooter for several months over a woman and was waiting for the shooter to walk out of his apartment at about 7 a.m. Wednesday. Muniz put his two young children in a vehicle and set up a tripod with his phone to record the altercation and attacked the 31-year-old shooter when he came out of his apartment. The shooter had a permit to carry the gun and he has been released from custody.
He called 9-1-1 after the shooting and is cooperating with police. He was questioned Wednesday and has since been released.
Listen to the 9-1-1 call below.
“We feel very comfortable our shooter is actually the victim,” Capri said.
Capri said the police were not aware of the ongoing feud between the pair until it escalated into the shooting Wednesday.
“Today it escalated when our person who is deceased initiated this confrontation today and basically attacked our shooter, hit him multiple times in the head with what appeared to be brass knuckles or some other type of weapon. We found a pair of brass knuckles next to the deceased. He proceeded to chase our shooter around the apartment complex, striking him several times in the head,” Capri said Wednesday afternoon.
The victim was dazed from the multiple blows to his head and when saw Muniz reach into his waistband, he was in fear for his life and pulled his own firearm and fired multiple shots striking Muniz.
An employee of Countryside Diner, 1602 State Road 19, Eustis, who wished to remain anonymous, was outside on the phone when she heard multiple gunshots ring out behind the restaurant and saw people running. She rushed inside to tell several EPD road patrol officers who were eating breakfast at the restaurant what she heard and locked the back door, she told Inside Lake.
She said all the officers ran outside toward where the gunfire came from, Devonshire Apartments, 1799 County Road 19A and one officer quickly returned to his patrol vehicle to grab his medical kit.
“When I saw the yellow tape go up, I knew something was going on,” she said.
