LAUDERHILL, FLA. (WSVN) - A Lauderhill man was captured on video pleading for his life while he was being robbed outside of his home, but the armed robbers would kill him anyway before they escaped with his valuables.
Sabrina Leslie, victim Michael Leslie’s mother, said he was a good son, a good father to his two children and would be the type of person to give you the shirt off his back.
“Our life will never be the same,” she said. “They’ve taken a piece of me — my family, not just me, not just me as a mother, but my whole family. Cousins, uncles, brothers and sisters, children, we’ll never be the same. If you were coming for the jewelry, whatever you took from him, you could have taken it and left Michael alone. Take it, take whatever he was giving you. He actually said, ‘I’m giving it to you,’ and you still killed him.”
Security footage captured the 29-year-old attempting to go inside of his home in the 3400 block of Northwest 13th Street, just after 4 a.m., on Feb. 1. When Leslie arrives, he finds the door locked, so he knocks to be let inside.
Soon after, two armed, masked men came from behind Leslie and pointed a gun in his face.
Leslie is then heard pleading with the crooks to take his belongings before they hit him.
The victim and the crooks struggled before Leslie ran away from the crooks. However, the men chased after the 29-year-old and shot him not far from the home.
“Video in the complex captures Michael Leslie running away and the suspects running after him,” Lauderhill Police Lt. Mike Santiago said. “At some point, shots ring out, and at that time, the victim falls to the ground.”
Leslie was found around 100 yards from his home, and he was transported to Broward Health Medical Center, where he died from his injuries.
“They took his watch and the rest of the belongings that he had on him,” Santiago said. “Right now, we’re still looking into what else he may have had, but we know for sure that that watch, which is a very expensive watch, was taken.”
The 29-year-old’s family is offering more money for information leading to the arrest of the two crooks.
“That’s the loving son that made anybody happy,” Leslie said. “He wasn’t a person out there killing anybody, robbing anybody. He was a person that if he had it, he would give it to you.”
Police said the crooks arrived 30 minutes before Leslie came home in a blue compact car and waited for a car to go through the gate before they went through the plastic arms.
“Someone is always going to do the right thing,” Michael Leslie, the victim’s father, said. “Someone knows, and they’re going to do the right thing.”
If you have any information on Leslie’s death, call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a reward of up to $12,000.
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