Victim reports having been struck by gun after confrontation with teens
At 5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 24, the Sarasota Police Department announced that officers with the Uniformed Patrol Division had responded “to a disturbance involving multiple individuals at the intersection of Tuttle Avenue and Bahia Vista Street” in Sarasota.
Initial complaints from the public reported that gunfire had been exchanged, a Police Department news release said. However, the release pointed out, “although firearms were involved,” detectives had been “unable to confirm whether any gunfire took place.”
The release did note that the agency’s “Real-Time Operation Center (ROC) played a critical role by monitoring live video footage of the incident. This allowed [Police Department personnel] to identify those involved and quickly relay vital information to patrol officers on the scene.”
“As a result,” the release continued, “several individuals were arrested …” They were identified as Jovani Acosta, 16, of 1118 Brink Ave. in Sarasota, who was charged with Minor in Possession of a Firearm and Carrying a Concealed Weapon; Jose Angel Acosta-Atriano, 18, also of 1118 S. Brink Ave. in Sarasota, who was charged with Carrying a Concealed Weapon; and Adrian Naredo 19, of 2728 Novus Place in Sarasota, who faces charges of Aggravated Assault with a Firearm and Carrying a Concealed Weapon, the release said.
A Sarasota News Leader search of jail booking records provided by the Corrections Division of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office found that Acosta-Atriano, was being held under $2,500 bond, with an arraignment scheduled for April 11.
Naredo was released from jail on Feb. 25, with his total bond set at $55,000. His arraignment also was set for April 11, his booking record said.
The News Leader was unable to find booking information for Jovani Acosta, which is common in cases involving minors charged with crimes.
Details of the incident
The Probable Cause Affidavit for Acosta-Atriano put the time of the Feb. 24 incident at 10 a.m.
The narrative explained that two detectives arrived at 10:20 a.m. that day at the Publix parking lot located at 501 N. Beneva Road, where they found two police officers standing with victims Jose Moreno, 30, and his wife, Victoria Moreno, 35. “Jose Moreno had a visible injury to the left side of his head, believed to be from the butt of a pistol,” the narrative continued.
During separate interviews with the couple, the narrative said, the detectives learned that the Morenos were driving south on Tuttle Avenue, crossing Fruitville Road in the inside lane, when they noticed a black Hyundai next to them in the outside lane. “A person in the vehicle made a shooting motion with their hand at them while they were driving,” the narrative noted of the Morenos.
Jose Moreno told the detective that he knew the occupants of the Hyundai as friends of his son. He identified the driver as Jose Acosta and the passenger as Jovani Acosta, adding that “these kids [had] been harassing the family for years.”
When the Hyundai pulled into the left turn lane on Tuttle Avenue, to head east on Bahia Vista Street, the narrative continued, the traffic light was red. Jose Moreno then exited the truck in which he and his wife were traveling “and walked to the driver’s side of the Hyundai,” the narrative added. At that point, the narrative said, Moreno reported that Jovani Acosta “jumped out of the passenger side of the car with a gun and pointed it at him.” Next, the narrative continued, Jose Acosta exited the car “holding a gun.”
Jose Moreno told the detective that he did not have any weapons.
Then a black Alpha Romeo sports car pulled behind his truck in the turn lane, Moreno said. Adrian Naredo was driving that vehicle, Morano added, as the narrative noted.
Naredo exited his vehicle and approached the driver’s side of Moreno’s truck, where his wife was in the driver’s seat, the narrative continued. Naredo “pointed two guns at the driver’s side window at Veronica,” the narrative said. Veronica Moreno drove over the median “into oncoming traffic on Tuttle [Avenue] to get away from Adrian,” the narrative added. She stopped the vehicle, facing west, in the middle of the intersection, to wait on her husband, the narrative said.
After Veronica Moreno drove out of the turn lane, the narrative continued, Naredo “pulled his car forward behind the Hyundai [and] then joined the fight. Jose Moreno said someone … hit him in the head with a gun. He said it was all so fast that he didn’t know who did it,” the narrative noted.
The suspects returned to their cars, Jose Moreno told the detective, and drove off. He returned to his and his wife’s truck and they drove away, as well. Then the Morenos called 911 and headed to the homes of the young men “to get their addresses” for the 911 dispatcher, the narrative explained.
When the detective asked Jose Moreno whether he was in fear for his life, he replied that he was not, the narrative added. “He said he was in fear for his wife’s life when Adrian had the guns pointed at her through the driver’s window [of the truck].”
Veronica Moreno told the other detective that she and her husband “have had issues with [the suspects] since an incident several years ago involving her son,” the narrative continued.
One of the detectives reviewed video surveillance footage from a camera at the intersection of Fruitville Road and Tuttle Avenue, as well as footage from a camera at the Tuttle-Bahia Vista intersection, the narrative said.
Afterward, the narrative added, the suspects’ vehicles were “located at their respective owner’s houses and towed back to [the Police Department in downtown Sarasota],” as the detectives awaited search warrants. The three suspects also were located, the narrative said, and they transported to the Police Department for interviews.
Jose Acosta told the detectives that when he exited his vehicle, “Jose Moreno grabbed his sweatshirt at his neck and held onto him,” the narrative noted. However, the narrative added, “he did not see a firearm or weapon in Jose Moreno’s hands” during the incident.
The video footage that the detective reviewed confirmed that Moreno had grabbed the sweatshirt, the narrative said.
When asked what happened to the guns after they left the area, the narrative continued, Jose Acosta said “he threw his gun out the window of the car around an unknown park in his neighborhood. He said he doesn’t know what his brother did with the gun he had.”
Prior charges
A News Leader search of the records maintained by the Office of the Sarasota County Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller found that, since August 2021, Naredo has faced charges of No Driver’s License, Reckless Driving with Damage to Person or Property, Unlawful Speed, and Unlawful Speed by exceeding the limit by 30 mph or more.
The only prior charges that the News Leader found in Sarasota County for Acosta-Atriano involved his operating a vehicle with a learner’s permit without a licensed driver over the age of 21 and operating a vehicle with a learner’s permit during “invalid hours.” That incident occurred in December 2023, court records show.