WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A West Palm Beach man accused of fatally shooting his girlfriend initially lied to police, claiming an unknown assailant barged into his home and shot her in the head, a probable cause affidavit revealed.
Alex Castanon, 18, was arrested Monday on a charge of second-degree murder.
According to a West Palm Beach police probable cause affidavit, Castanon initially claimed that an intruder killed his girlfriend, Dolores Felipe, 18, inside his 34th Street home Sunday night before later confessing to accidentally shooting her.
When police arrived, they found the body of Dolores Felipe, 18, outside the home. Castanon, who was near the body, told police that he was on the couch with her when someone walked through the front door and shot Felipe in the head. Castanon told police he picked her up, walked her outside and placed her on the ground.
According to the affidavit, surveillance video taken from across the street showed that nobody walked through the front door for 18 minutes before Castanon walked outside with Felipe's body.
"Aex then runs back inside the house and is seen running back outside holding his waistband and runs toward the back exterior of the house, out of camera view," the affidavit said. "A few moments later, Alex is seen coming back to the body of the victim."
Police at the scene said there was a pool of blood near the couch in the living room and a spent shell casing.
During a recorded interview with detectives, Castanon told them that he and Felipe were having sex on the couch in the living room, which is where he sleeps, "when he felt the gun" that he placed between the cushions.
According to the affidavit, Castanon said she "told him to not have any guns around her, so he pulled the gun out of the cushion to place it elsewhere and when he did, Dolores became upset and started grabbing for the gun."
Castanon told detectives that she grabbed the gun and as he pulled it away from her, "it went off."
His brother also told detectives that Castanon never mentioned someone breaking in and shooting Felipe. However, Castanon's brother said he did yell several times that "it was an accident."
That contradicted what Miguel Castanon told WPTV the morning after the shooting, saying he was inside the home when he heard a gunshot.
"We all rushed outside and we found her laying down on the ground and with a bullet in her head," Miguel Castanon said.
Alex Castanon appeared before a Palm Beach County judge Wednesday morning. He was being held without bond at the main Palm Beach County jail.