On July 25, 2024, at approximately 10:52 a.m., officers in St. Petersburg, Pinellas County, Florida, responded to reports of gunfire and a woman lying on the street at the intersection of 27th Street North and 59th Avenue North. Upon arrival, they found Leslie Torres Fernández, a 39-year-old Cuban woman, face down on the street with apparent gunshot wounds to her upper body.
Despite attempts to save her life, Torres Fernández was pronounced dead shortly after being transported to the hospital.
Leslie Torres Fernández was originally from Candelaria, a municipality in the province of Artemisa, Cuba, and had arrived in the United States in January 2024 under a humanitarian parole program. The shooting was a random act carried out by 14-year-old Jaevion Darrell Harvey, who had stolen a gun from his father's bedroom. Security cameras captured Harvey fleeing the area on his bicycle after the shooting.
During the investigation, detectives identified Jaevion Darrell Harvey as the suspect and executed a search warrant at his residence, which is located near the scene of the incident. The search yielded a firearm confirmed to have been used in the shooting, as well as numerous other firearms, large quantities of ammunition, 3.8 kilograms of cocaine, 53 grams of crack, 3 grams of MDMA, and $184,964 in U.S. currency. When interviewed, Harvey confessed to randomly shooting Leslie Torres Fernández.
Harvey's father, Jarvis Armand Spencer, 37, who has a lengthy criminal history with 15 felony convictions, was also arrested. Spencer did not cooperate with detectives and was charged with multiple offenses, including seven counts of illegal firearm possession, one count of illegal ammunition possession, possession of a firearm with an altered serial number, armed trafficking of crack, armed trafficking of powdered cocaine, and grand theft of a firearm. Jaevion Darrell Harvey faces a first-degree murder charge for the death of Leslie Torres Fernández.
