A teenager from Florida, who had been missing for over two years, was recently arrested and accused of murder related to a fatal shooting in Durham, North Carolina.
Gracie Elizabeth Faye Landa, 18, was apprehended on Monday and charged with the killing of 23-year-old Christopher Piedrasanta-Perez on May 30. This information was detailed in an arrest warrant issued in Durham County.
Landa went missing from her Tampa home in June 2023 when she was 16 years old. A year after her disappearance, authorities expressed their belief, through the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, that she had traveled to Durham.
However, no public updates on her whereabouts had been issued until her arrest this week.
According to the Durham police and court documents, Piedrasanta-Perez and two women were inside a Honda Accord near Whippoorwill Park around 12:30 a.m. on May 30. It was then that two to three assailants approached from the woods and started shooting.
Piedrasanta-Perez was killed by a gunshot wound to the head, and the two women sustained injuries.
Investigators found at least 40 shell casings at the site, consisting of both 9mm and .223 caliber rifle ammunition, as stated in an autopsy report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Gracie Elizabeth Faye Landa (pictured), 18, was taken into custody on Monday and charged with murder
Piedrasanta-Perez was with two women in a Honda Accord near Whippoorwill Park around 12:30 a.m. on May 30 when armed assailants appeared from the woods and started firing. The image shows Durham Police at the scene of the shooting at Whippoorwill Park on May 30.
Surveillance video from a nearby building captured two suspects firing at the car before fleeing on foot, a search warrant states.
Authorities have not said how Landa is connected to the shooting or whether she was one of the gunmen.
Her arrest warrant does not clarify whether she was in the car or nearby at the time of the incident and the investigation remains ongoing.
The shooting appears to have stemmed from an ongoing conflict involving a planned fight between two other individuals, court documents state.
Piedrasanta-Perez and the others in the car were reportedly present because a friend planned to confront another girl, but when they arrived, they were ambushed, the News and Observer reported.
However, Piedrasanta-Perez’s mother, Amalia Perez, told Fox8 her son had just completed a DoorDash delivery with his girlfriend and was sitting in the car when the shooting occurred.
‘Several people came out of the woods and started shooting at them,’ she said, adding that police informed her that additional suspects remain at large.
‘I have faith that they will get punished for what they did, because my son didn’t deserve this,’ she said, through tears. ‘He was not out there looking for trouble. I really don’t know why this happened. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.’
Christopher Piedrasanta-Perez (pictured), 23, was killed by a gunshot wound to the head, and the two women sustained injuries
The Whippoorwill Park (pictured) shooting appears to have stemmed from an ongoing conflict involving a planned fight between two other individuals, according to court documents
Piedrasanta-Perez was described by family members as a kind and hardworking young man who was the oldest of four siblings.
A GoFundMe campaign launched in his memory said his ‘presence brought light and comfort to the family.’
‘Christopher was more than just a son, a brother, a friend, he was a light in our lives. With his calm and cool presence, he had a way of making everyone around him feel safe and seen.
‘Whether through his quiet smile, his thoughtful words, or the comforting energy he brought into a room, he left an impression that won’t be forgotten,’ the fundraising page reads.
Landa remains in the Durham County Jail without bond.
She made her first court appearance on Tuesday and is scheduled to return to court on September 11.
