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Inset: Alexander Lefort (Brevard County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The FedEx location where Lefort allegedly shot himself in Cocoa, Fla. (Google Maps).
A Florida man was recently arrested after intentionally shooting himself in order to make himself more attractive to a coworker who spurned his advances, police in the Sunshine State say.
Alexander Lefort, 30, stands accused of one count each of giving false information to a law enforcement officer during an investigation, tampering with evidence in a felony proceeding, and discharging a firearm in public, according to Brevard County Sheriff’s Office records.
The shooting incident occurred during the early morning hours on March 21, 2024, according to a probable cause affidavit filed by the Cocoa Police Department. Officers responded to shots fired at a FedEx in Cocoa, a small town located on Florida’s Atlantic coast.
At the scene, an officer found the defendant “lying on a couch” with a gunshot wound to his abdomen, according to the affidavit. In various interviews with police officers, Lefort allegedly claimed he was shot by a man wearing a balaclava and a hoodie who then ran away. But eventually the stories didn’t add up, police say.
When a detective later spoke with a witness who worked with the defendant at the FedEx, she said Lefort told her the assailant demanded money before the shooting. Lefort, however, did not relay this claim to the responding officers, according to the affidavit.
Instead, the defendant told initial police on the scene that he was cleaning up spilled soda in his car when the man more or less appeared out of nowhere, and then, apparently surprised, shot him once before fleeing down the road, according to the court document.
Surveillance footage obtained by law enforcement appeared to show the defendant showing up at the parking lot over two hours before his shift began on the day in question, police allege. That video also “does not show a second person,” according to the affidavit.
The defendant’s parking job also aroused suspicion.
“It should be noted that Mr. Lefort’s vehicle had been parked in the furthest portion of the northwest parking lot, which put the vehicle almost out of view from the surveillance cameras,” the affidavit reads. “In addition, the parking lot appeared to be at only half capacity, but Mr. Lefort’s vehicle was furthest from the building’s main entrance.”
A different FedEx employee later told the detective that Lefort using the far-off parking spot was odd but not unheard-of, according to police. Specifically, Lefort parked there one other time, the day before the shooting, the affidavit alleges. That second witness surmised that parking spot was utilized to watch a female coworker, police say.
As it turned out, Lefort was arrested and charged with stalking in an entirely different case — involving that female coworker — almost exactly one month after the shooting. When the detective first brought the stalking allegation up with the defendant, he allegedly dissembled, according to the affidavit.
The charging document describes that case, at length:
While questioning Alexander Lefort regarding a stalking incident that had occurred at Fed-Ex … he was determined to be deceitful multiple times. One of these times include when I asked him if he had placed a note, or anything on the vehicle of [the coworker]. After Alexander Lefort stated “No,” I then told Mr. Lefort that I had viewed surveillance footage that contradicts his answer. Alex Lefort then stated “ok, so.” I also asked Alexander Lefort if he had contacted [the coworker] since he had been involved in the shooting, which Alexander Lefort stated “No.” I later found out that Alex Lefort had contacted [the coworker] on March 23rd 2024, in which he stated “sorry.” This was after the victim had told Alexander Lefort to stop contacting her. Also, when I asked Alexander Lefort if he had ever been diagnosed with cancer, he stated no., which contradicts statements that he had made to the victim, via text messages …
Police also say Lefort “was inconsistent and gave conflicting details” about the shooting, according to the affidavit. In one version of events, the alleged balaclava-clad man closed one of his car doors after the shooting. In another version, the defendant himself admitted to closing both doors of his car.
Investigators also dinged Lefort’s honesty over the monetary claims — allegedly telling police there was “no money” involved while allegedly telling one of his fellow employees the would-be shooter did ask him for money.
In yet another series of tellings and retellings, the defendant allegedly told the detective in charge of the investigation that he eventually moved toward the shooter and “hit the top of the gun” — possibly causing it to go off, according to the affidavit. Meanwhile, this purported detail was entirely left out of the accounts given to officers on the scene.
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Some physical evidence, a long time coming, also led police to fully embrace the self-shooting theory of the case.
Days after the shooting, police allegedly recovered a Sig Sauer 9mm pistol “deep inside the driver’s side front door compartment” of Lefort’s vehicle, according to the affidavit. Gun records showed the defendant was the person who purchased the gun. There was also one spent 9mm cartridge case recovered from the scene. Last month, testing showed that bullet was fired from Lefort’s gun, police claim.
“In this case, based on the evidence and statements collected, I have probable cause to believe that Alexander Lefort intentionally discharged the aforementioned firearm into his abdomen in an attempt [to] gather sympathy to [his coworker], whom had halted all communication with Mr. Lefort after she accused him [of] harassing her,” the detective wrote.
Lefort was arrested on April 9 in the present case and released later that same day on $4,000 bond, court records show.