Prosecutors decline to file charges connected to deadly Beverly Hills shooting

Garay’s gunfire also wounded Durel II.

Assistant State Attorney Peter Magrino, the homicide prosecutor for Citrus, Sumter and Hernando counties, announced and explained the decision in an Oct. 13 memo obtained Monday, Oct. 17.

“Given the factual circumstances of this incident, as related by Mr. Durel II in his interview corroborated by other witnesses, when coupled with the criminal actions of Garay,” Magrino wrote, “there is no evidence to support a criminal conviction for any degree of homicide.”

Magrino also informed the lead Citrus County Sheriff’s Office detective who investigated the shooting of the decision not to file charges.

“This filing decision is not based on the lack of quality of the investigation or any lack of investigative effort on your part,” Magrino wrote to Detective Robert Bang. “The decision is a legal one dealing with criminal intent and the lack of evidence thereof with regard to the incident…”

According to Magrino’s memo, sheriff’s office deputies responded at around 9:35 p.m. July 3 to a shooting at a house on the 20 block of South Monroe Street, where arriving deputies discovered Durel Sr. and Garay dead on the front yard from gunshot wounds.

Deputies also found Durel II next to a vehicle in the driveway with a gunshot injury to his hand.

Before first responders transported him to a hospital, Durel II told deputies he shot Garay after Garay opened fire on him and his father.

Durel II later told investigators he’s lived at the house, which Durel Sr. owns, and recently, with his father’s permission, allowed Garay to also stay there if he paid rent.

On the evening of the shooting, according to Magrino’s memo, Durel II asked Garay to pay owed rent but Garay, who was intoxicated, refused and became “belligerent,” causing Durel II to call Durel Sr. for help.

During his car ride over to the house, Durel Sr. had his cellphone’s speaker on so he and his accompanying fiancée could hear his son’s continued argument with Garay. Durel Sr. was also armed with a concealed firearm when he arrived at the house.

Durel Sr. and Durel II then entered the house together to try and get Garay to leave. Another argument started, which Durel Sr.’s fiancée could hear on the cellphone, before a fight broke out between Garay and the Durels near the front door.

Durel Sr.’s fiancée told investigators she then heard “pop sounds” before she heard Durel II yell out, “he just shot my dad, and he shot me in the (expletive) hand. Call 911, he shot my dad,” Magrino’s memo states.

A second witness – a friend of Durel Sr. – also provided investigators with a similar account of the shooting.

Durel Sr’s autopsy revealed his manner and cause of death to be homicide by a gunshot wound to his head. Garay’s homicide, his autopsy showed, was from multiple gunshot wounds.

“In Florida, ‘the use of deadly force is justifiable when a person is resisting any attempt to murder such person or to commit any felony upon him or her,’” Magrino wrote, citing state law. “Additionally, a ‘homicide is excusable when committed by accident and misfortune in ... or upon sudden combat, without any dangerous weapon being used, and not done in a cruel and unusual manner.’”