Boca Raton, FL – Last August, Boca Raton Police and Fire Rescue responded to a home in the Colonnade at Glen Oaks for a medical call. Fire Rescue personnel found an elderly woman unconscious and suffering from burns and trauma injuries. The victim was immediately transported to Delray Medical Center.
Boca Raton officers found David Gonzalez, a driver for a delivery provider, on the scene. Gonzalez said that he and his co-worker, Jorge Luis Dupre Lachazo, delivered a washer and dryer to the victim’s home for Best Buy. At one point during the visit, Gonzalez went outside to make phone calls to the office. Lachazo remained inside of the home to speak with the victim about the new appliances. After hearing screams from the house, Gonzalez entered the home and saw blood and the victim on the floor.
Gonzalez went outside and called 911. Lachazo got into the delivery truck and drove away. A responding Boca Raton police officer saw the truck leaving the neighborhood and stopped it.
During an interview, Lachazo admitted that he struck the victim with a mallet and doused her with a liquid chemical. Lachazo admitted to using cocaine and marijuana earlier in the day but did not say why he killed the victim.
Best Buy released this statement to WPTV:
“One of our customers in the Boca Raton, Florida area was tragically attacked yesterday, suffering extremely serious injuries. We are profoundly sorry and offer our deepest sympathies to our customer and her family. Out of respect for them, we have closed our Boca Raton store today. Beyond working with law enforcement in any way we can, we have suspended our relationship with the small, local company that was sub-contracted to deliver to the customer’s home. In the hours after we initially learned what happened, we immediately re-visited our delivery and installation programs and, in the coming days, will do two things: 1) ensure all our processes were followed and 2) work with our delivery partners to do anything more we can to help ensure that this type of tragedy will not happen again. Additionally, we are hiring an independent security firm to review our existing screening, audit and safety programs and share with us their assessment on how we can improve. For more than 20 years, millions of Americans have trusted us to come into their homes and, on days like this, I am fully aware of how precious that trust is and how vital it is that we do everything in our power to earn it. Today, we redouble our efforts to do just that.”
Lachazo has been charged with Attempted Second-Degree Murder, Aggravated Battery with a Deadly Weapon on a Person over 65 Years of Age and Arson. The victim is in extremely critical condition. The investigation is ongoing.
