Latest news with #Blanco-Medina
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
VIDEO: 3 men arrested in hotel SWAT situation near airport
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — Body-worn camera (BWC) footage from Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport Police shows the arrests of three men at the Comfort Inn and Suites near the airport. Records show Alexander Blanco-Medina, 26, and Jean Nieves-Ortiz, 19, were both arrested for false imprisonment and terroristic threats and acts on June 1st. Yeiker Luis Arevalo Hernandez was arrested the following day and has been charged with aggravated assault, terroristic threats and theft by taking. According to the report from Airport Police, all three men worked and lived at the Comfort Inn and Suites. The suspects were taken to the Chatham County Detention Center. Jail records indicate Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is investigating their immigration status. WSAV first reported the alleged hostage situation at the Comfort Inn and Suites off Airways Avenue on June 1st. According to the report, Airport Police were dispatched to the hotel in response to a call for threats with a firearm around 4:40 p.m. According to the front desk clerk, three men forced themselves into a room on the second floor before the male victim, the hotel manager, pushed them out and shut the door. The manager stated one of the three men was armed. At least four officers entered the room with a key and escorted the victim out, the report stated. The victim told police that the three men didn't want to do their jobs, which sparked the altercation. According to the report, Blanco-Medina and Nieves-Ortiz were found in the hall while other officers searched for the third suspect, later identified as Hernandez. The officers are shown on their BWC using cell phones for translation purposes before an interpreter was called. According to the interpreter, Blanco-Medina and Nieves-Ortiz said they were hotel workers with no involvement in the incident. Though, they stated there was a disagreement with the manager. One airport officer wrote in the report what he saw on the hotel's camera systems, 'You can see the detainees, the unknown subject and the desk clerk standing outside the room that the victim went in prior to the incident. In the video, you can see the detainees arguing and making hand gestures to the victim. During this time, you can also see the unknown subject with his hand in his right pocket, adjusting an object that has the same shame of a semi automatic pistol. The subject adjusted his grip on the object and you can clearly see the imprint of the firearm. The subject rushes the door and forces his way past the detainees. Then, the detainees also ran towards the door in an aggressive manner. The desk clerk appeared calm and didn't leave the scene. When everyone exited the room except the victim, it was as if nothing had happened.' After the incident, the hotel camera video showed Hernandez walk into a room on the first floor. According to the report, officers tried to enter this room, but the door was shut and the lock was damaged on the inside of the room, making it impossible to enter with a master key card. Officers then evacuated the first and second floors of the hotel. The window to the room was also locked, and officers searched the floor for the suspect. According to the officer, that was when the SWAT team was called in. Additional units from Chatham County K9, Garden City Police Department, and Pooler Police Department arrived to assist. The SWAT team found that the suspect was not in the room on the first floor, according to the report. Chatham K9 units found two firearms wrapped in a blue t-shirt behind dumpsters on the property; the same blue shirt Hernandez was seen with on surveillance cameras. The report stated, officers saw Hernandez fleeing onto the I-95 northbound ramp. A foot pursuit was initiated, but he was not detained that day. Meanwhile, Blanco-Medina and Nieves-Ortiz were arrested and transported to the Chatham County Detention Center for processing. Hernandez was later arrested the next morning by Airport Police. According to officers' statements in the BWC footage, Hernandez was hiding at a nearby recreation center overnight. He then 'turned himself in' by coming to the Comfort Inn and Suites and waiting in the lobby. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Yahoo
Man faces murder charge after forcing car off road in St. Petersburg, police say
A man previously arrested in connection to a fatal crash in St. Petersburg last weekend is now facing murder and attempted murder charges after police say he intentionally forced another car off the road thinking his ex-girlfriend was inside. But Kyle Mathew Hill, 33, had the wrong car, and instead caused a crash Sunday on 34th Street North that killed a woman he didn't know and seriously injured her boyfriend, St. Petersburg police said Wednesday. Hill is now being charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, an upgrade from the DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide charges he initially faced after his arrest, Chief Anthony Holloway announced at a news conference. The crash killed Arislenni Blanco-Medina, 28, and left her boyfriend, Norbelis Figueredo-Campos, 35, in critical condition. Shortly before 8 p.m., Hill argued with his ex-girlfriend, and she left in a friend's car, a Honda Accord, Holloway said. Hill got into his Nissan Armada and went looking for her. As Hill was driving south on 34th Street North near 30th Avenue North, he spotted a Honda Accord that he thought was the one his ex-girlfriend was in. He called her and threatened her as he chased the Honda for several blocks, police said. Holloway said Hill told the woman, 'I got you, I'm going to kill you, your friend and myself.' Figueredo-Campos tried to get away from the man chasing them in the SUV, but near 17th Avenue North, Hill forced the Honda off the road, where it collided with a concrete pole, Holloway said. The pole split and fell onto the car, crushing its roof. Blanco-Medina died at the scene and Figueredo-Campos was taken to a hospital. Hill lost control of his Nissan SUV and hit a tree in the median. 'He used his car as a weapon,' Holloway said. Staff at Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital told police that Hill's blood alcohol level was 0.185, according to an arrest affidavit. Under Florida law, a driver is presumed impaired at 0.08 or higher. Police estimated that Hill was driving more than 60 mph at the time of the crash, the affidavit states. The speed limit on that stretch of 34th Street South is 35 mph. Figueredo-Campos came to the United States from Cuba about a year and a half ago, and Blanco-Medina moved here from Cuba a few months ago, police spokesperson Yolanda Fernandez said at the news conference. Blanco-Medina was on the phone with her father and 9-year-old daughter, who are both in Cuba, when Hill started chasing them, Fernandez said. Blanco-Medina told her family she thought she was going to die, and then they heard a crash, according to Fernandez. 'So the family members in Cuba, her father and daughter, then called her family here in Pinellas County to let them know something terrible had happened,' Fernandez said. Speaking in Spanish, Blanco-Medina's brother Aramis Blanco said at the news conference that his sister was speaking with her family members on WhatsApp when they heard her screaming, 'He's going to kill me,' apparently a reference to the man in the SUV who was chasing them. Blanco said the family wants justice and for Hill 'to pay for what he did.' Clara Figueredo, Figueredo-Campos' aunt, said her nephew is an ambitious, goal-oriented man who dreamed of bringing his girlfriend to the United States so she and her daughter could have a better life. She said her nephew remained in the intensive care unit Wednesday with a fractured pelvis, among other injuries. Hill was being held without bail Wednesday. He is also facing a probation violation charge. Pinellas court records show he pleaded guilty to felony battery in December and was sentenced to 36 months of probation. In that case, according to an arrest affidavit. Hill sucker punched a man in the back of the head at a St. Petersburg bar and then, after the man fell to the ground apparently unconscious, punched him in the face six times.
