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Uber Eats Driver Shot Outside Dadeland Luxury Apartments; Deputies Say Suspect's Home Held a Drug Packaging Room
A delivery driver who came back hoping to get a woman's number was shot and pistol-whipped in Kendall early Monday, authorities say. The 33-year-old suspect now faces an attempted murder charge and a stack of drug trafficking counts. A late-night delivery in Kendall ended with a driver shot, beaten and chased around a Corvette, and with the man accused of attacking him facing an attempted murder charge and multiple drug trafficking counts, according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office. Deputies were called to the Pearl Dadeland apartments at 7440 N. Kendall Drive just after 3:30 a.m. on Monday, October 12, after a report of gunfire. A bystander told them an argument had broken out minutes earlier. According to an arrest report cited by WSVN 7News and Local 10 News, an Uber Eats driver had met a woman outside the building's lobby while dropping off an order. About 50 minutes later, he came back, hoping to see her again and possibly get her phone number. That is when, investigators say, 33-year-old Khuslen Saruultuya pulled up in a gray Corvette, pointed a handgun at the driver and ordered him to the ground. Saruultuya allegedly fired one shot that grazed the driver, then struck him in the back of the head with the gun, leaving a two-inch wound, and threatened to kill him. The driver broke away and was chased around the car at gunpoint while the woman screamed at Saruultuya to stop, the report says. Saruultuya then drove off. The driver took himself to Baptist Health South Miami Hospital, where South Miami police alerted the sheriff's office to a patient with a gunshot wound. Deputies identified Saruultuya through witnesses and arrested him without incident at his Southwest Miami-Dade apartment Monday evening. What deputies found A search of the apartment turned up suspected cocaine, MDMA, ketamine, marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms and hundreds of prescription pills, WSVN reported, along with roughly $11,394 in cash that investigators believe came from drug sales. Local 10 reported that deputies also found two bags of tusi, the drug sold on the street as "pink cocaine." Deputies said one room appeared to be set up for mixing, portioning, labeling and packaging narcotics. Saruultuya was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Local 10 reported that he faces attempted murder, aggravated battery and nine felony drug trafficking charges; WSVN described the top count as attempted felony murder, along with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and multiple drug offenses. Under Florida law, attempted felony murder is a first-degree felony punishable by up to life in prison. Bond had not been set as of Tuesday morning. The driver, who has not been publicly identified, was treated for his injuries. Saruultuya has not been convicted of any crime, and it was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney.