A 33-year-old Florida male shot an Uber Eats driver in the buttocks and pistol-whipped him after the driver tried to get the phone number of the suspect's girlfriend, WPLG-TV reported, citing Miami-Dade deputies.
The shooting happened early Monday morning outside the Pearl Dadeland Apartments at 7440 N. Kendall Drive, the station said, citing the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.
'Babe, please stop!'
A deputy responded to the area just after 3:30 a.m. after receiving reports of a gunshot, WPLG said, citing an arrest report, adding that a bystander flagged down the deputy "and reported that a group of individuals had been involved in an altercation but left the area minutes before deputies arrived.”
At about the same time, South Miami police reported that the victim arrived at Baptist Health South Miami Hospital with a gunshot wound, the station said, citing deputies.
The arrest report said the victim told deputies that he delivered food to a woman living at the apartment building about an hour before and “engaged in a brief conversation with [her] and took a liking to her,” WPLG said.
Deputies said the victim returned around 3:25 a.m. “in an attempt to see the [woman] again and possibly obtain her phone number" but was unsuccessful, the station said.
But as the victim was returning to his car, deputies said the woman’s boyfriend — Khuslen Saruultuya — pulled up in a Chevrolet Corvette, WPLG reported.
Deputies said Saruultuya ordered the victim "to lie on the ground" as he pointed a handgun at him, the station reported.
"The victim complied and laid flat on the ground [and Saruultuya] fired one round, which grazed the victim on his right buttock," the arrest report states, according to WPLG. "While the victim remained on the ground, [Saruultuya] struck him on the back of the head with the buttstock of the handgun, causing a two-inch open wound."
Saruultuya then ordered the victim to stand and pointed the gun at his head, telling him, “I am going to kill you," the arrest report states, according to the station.
Saruultuya’s girlfriend, witnessing the incident, pleaded with him, yelling, “Babe, please stop!” WPLG said, citing the arrest report.
The victim told deputies that Saruultuya “chased” him around the Corvette, still pointing the gun at him, as the woman “attempted to hold [Saruultuya] back," the station reported.
Authorities told WPLG they traced the Corvette’s license plate back to Saruultuya and went to his unit at the nearby Palmer Dadeland Apartments to take him into custody; the victim also picked him out of a photo lineup.
Deputies added to the station that during a “cursory sweep” of Saruultuya's unit, they found drugs, including Xanax, Adderall, oxycodone, amphetamines, ketamine, cocaine, MDMA, psilocybin mushrooms, and marijuana.
What's more, deputies told WPLG that Saruultuya also had 16 pills of the erectile dysfunction drug Cialis along with two bags of the party drug tusi, also known as “pink cocaine.”
“Those are my prescriptions,” Saruultuya said in court Tuesday before Judge Mindy Glazer warned him to not speak about the case, the station said.
The Mongolia-born Saruultuya is facing charges including attempted murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and nine felony drug trafficking charges, WPLG said, citing jail records.
During his court appearance, the judge denied Saruultuya's bond, WTVJ-TV reported. Jail records indicate Saruultuya remained behind bars Thursday morning.
WTVJ, citing records, said Saruultuya in 2022 got into a different altercation with a man at a gym in Kendall after the man was checking out Saruultuya’s girlfriend. Investigators said the man pulled a knife on Saruultuya and was later arrested, WTVJ added.
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