Advertisement

Feud over a woman led to Holiday chiropractic clinic shooting

 
Published Feb. 22, 2014

HOLIDAY — A shooting Monday inside a chiropractic clinic that left one man critically injured was "all over a girl."

According to an incident report released Friday by the Pasco Sheriff's Office, 33-year-old Jaime Velez went to the West Coast Spine and Injury Center on U.S. 19 just before 11 a.m. He told investigators that he had received text messages from the chiropractor, Lenny Linardos, saying that Velez's girlfriend was there engaging in sex acts with Linardos.

Velez spoke to a deputy while lying on his stomach in the hallway of the clinic, according to the report. He had been shot in the leg, back and groin.

Linardos, 46, of Tarpon Springs, was not "investigatively interviewed," the report says. But he volunteered to the deputy that "this was all over a girl, all over a girl."

Investigators have said that Linardos acted in self defense when he shot Velez, who walked into the clinic wearing rubber gloves and pistol in his waistband. Sheriff's officials say they don't plan to charge Linardos with a crime.

Linardos' attorney, Cimos Angelis, told reporters this week that his client was "violently attacked" and he knew all along there would be no charges filed because Linardos was defending himself.

Both men have criminal pasts. Linardos was arrested in Pinellas County in 1994 on a charge of simple domestic battery and in 1995 on spouse battery. He was arrested in Pasco County in January 2012 and charged with failing to secure workers compensation coverage.

Velez was recently released from New York State Prison for attempted second-degree robbery. He was arrested in 1999 for selling a controlled substance, attempted sale of a controlled substance and attempted second-degree robbery.

He remained hospitalized Friday in critical but stable condition.