Cape resident charged following fatal shooting
A Cape Coral man remained in jail Tuesday after fatally shooting a man and injuring two others.
Christopher Curtis Manley, 19, of 1102 S.W. 16th Terrace, was arrested and charged Saturday with one count of homicide murder dangerous depraved without premeditation in the death of Mathew Pech, 27, of St. James City. He is being held without bond at the Lee County Jail, according to booking records.
At about 2 a.m., Cape police responded to 407 S.E. 12th Court for a compliant of a loud party that evolved into a physical altercation and shots being fired. When officers arrived, they found that three men had been shot in the street, then were pulled or fled back into the home, a police report states.
Arik Ray Sparks, 20, of 314 S.E. 15th St., and Damian Hilario Perez, 21, of 1218 S.E. 24th Ave., were taken to Lee Memorial Hospital with gunshot wounds. As of Tuesday, both had been discharged.
The third victim, Pech, died as a result of his injuries on scene and was pronounced dead.
According to the report, there were numerous people present when detectives arrived. All attendees reported that a conflict arose when a group of uninvited men arrived and were told to leave. A physical altercation started between the uninvited group and existing party-goers, which then moved outside.
Witnesses stated that one of the uninvited men, later identified as Manley, retrieved a handgun from a vehicle and began to shoot at the other combatants, hitting the victims before fleeing in the vehicle.
Officers developed information which indicated that Manley was involved and a search warrant was obtained for his residence, officials reported. It was executed and Manley was taken into custody.
The report states that Manley acknowledged he was at the party and got into a physical altercation outside. He admitted that after he was beaten by the group, he retrieved a .22 caliber revolver from his car. Manley said he fired the gun into the air as self defense but was unaware he had struck anyone.
The revolver was located inside of Manley’s residence under his bed.
He has a court appearance scheduled for June 23.