Local

Reward of $5,000 offered for information after man shot dead in west Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla. — A $5,000 reward is now available for information to help solve a fatal shooting in Orlando.

Police said a man was shot and killed Wednesday night in the driveway of a home on Malibu Street.

WFTV reporter Cierra Putman spoke with the victim’s mother, who said she heard from him right before the shooting.

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Over the phone, she said her son sent a message that he liked the birthday gift he was picking up from a family member's house and a day later, she had the horrible task of identifying his body.

"This is a pretty nice neighborhood,” said neighbor Joe Tate. “It surprised the devil out of me that something like that was going on."

Orlando police still haven't released the victim's name.

His mother said over the phone it's Wardell "Moose" Mitchell.

The family said he was 35 years old and was picking up a birthday gift after returning from vacation.

The victim's relatives told Channel 9 on Wednesday night that he had stopped by the home to visit the grandmother of his 1-year-old son.

They said he and the child's mother had returned from a trip to Hawaii last weekend and that they were celebrating their 35th birthdays.

There's now a Crimeline sign up offering $5,000 to help find his killer.

His family is now planning a vigil to remember him.

Over the phone, his mother said Mitchell thought someone was trying to kill him, but she didn't know who.

She said Mitchell did have run-ins with the law in the past, and the Orange County Clerk of Courts website shows arrests for a person with the same name and age.

The last arrest was in 2015 for delivering pot, records show.

Since then, his mom said, he wanted to be a better man and started a bounce house business.

Detectives were canvasing the area earlier Thursday but there has been no update yet from police on the state of the investigation.

The family plans to hold a vigil Thursday night around the time the shots were fired.

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