WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Surveillance video provided by a neighbor to West Palm Beach police investigators may provide a glimpse into what happened to a 33-year-old man found shot dead on the sidewalk of Avenida Hermosa Sunday morning.
Elias Morales Diaz apparently collapsed on the sidewalk outside a home.
Just after midnight Sunday, the surveillance video shows the silhouette of a person on foot headed west on Avenida Hermosa. This is the person a neighbor believes is Morales Diaz.
It appears that a few seconds later, someone from across the street runs toward the victim. Then moments after that, you see the person believed to be the victim head back east on the sidewalk, but disappear behind a fence, where neighbors say he was discovered on the ground hours later.
"It shows you that, you know, over time, a camera can be helpful to capture something that can help the community," said Jovit Guerrero, who hopes more neighbors take a look at their own cameras to see if they caught anything.
Morales Diaz's uncle returned from a trip to Tennessee on Monday, only to learn his nephew had been killed.
"My nephew was a very humble person, simple, from Guatemala. A hard worker who did not mess with anyone," said Juan Diaz Perez, the victim's uncle.
Diaz Perez says his nephew had lived in West Palm Beach for a few years and worked in construction. He said where his nephew was found is just a couple hundred feet from the home he was renting on Avenida Hermosa.
"This is a huge hit because, like I said, he's my nephew, my sister's on, like a son to me," added Diaz Perez.
Diaz Perez said he could not understand why someone would murder his nephew.
"Me, for example, I could not kill a chicken, let alone a person," Diaz Perez said. "It's not fair what that person did to my nephew."
West Palm Beach Police say they also responded to a shooting in the 400 block of El Vedado overnight. Officers say a man was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound. There is no information as of yet if the two shootings share any connection.
Anyone with surveillance video or information should call the West Palm Beach Police Department.
