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Joel Morales-Saez, 46 years old, was arrested on Wednesday in Miami after authorities determined that he had accidentally shot himself in the foot with a stolen gun and then attempted to cover it up by fabricating a fictitious attack.
The records from the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office indicate that the incident occurred around 2:09 a.m. last Monday, near Northwest 81st Street, when officers responded to a call about a man injured by gunfire in a trailer.
Upon arriving, Morales-Saez told the agents that an unknown person wearing a mask had entered his trailer and shot him in the foot while he was doing the dishes.
The detectives, however, followed a trail of blood from Morales-Saez's trailer to a nearby residence, where surveillance cameras captured him arriving on a red bicycle, entering the neighboring trailer, and tossing a bag inside before returning home.
The owner of the neighboring trailer stated that the bag did not belong to her. Inside it, the officers found a Cobra brand pistol that had been reported stolen in a previous case with the Miami-Dade police.
Morales-Saez was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital for treatment, where he reiterated his account to the detectives, insisting that a masked man had shot him and that he had gone out to seek help before calling the police.
The researchers concluded that the evidence completely contradicted his version and that the shooting had been staged to conceal the stolen weapon.
The charges he faces include armed robbery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, trafficking in stolen property, tampering with physical evidence while armed, and filing a false report to authorities.
Judicial records revealed that Morales-Saez has accumulated five prior convictions for serious crimes, including grand theft, tampering with evidence, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, which significantly complicates his legal situation.
This type of case is not isolated in South Florida
This week, four individuals were arrested in Miami-Dade for thefts related to sales in the area, in a series of incidents that have kept county authorities on alert.
The circulation of stolen firearms is a growing concern in Miami-Dade. The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office seized 216 firearms during "Operation Safe Summer" in 2025, many of which were stolen or illegal.
Under Florida law, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon is a second-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of three years if the weapon was in direct possession, a rule that Morales-Saez is said to have violated in the past according to his record.
In another recent case that alarmed the community, a shocking video showed a man shooting himself under equally puzzling circumstances.
In another incident, a man was arrested with a loaded rifle and several knives in the same metropolitan area.
Morales-Saez appeared yesterday before a judge, who ordered him to remain in custody without bail at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
During the hearing, the prosecutor summarized the case with a phrase that says it all: "It seems he may have accidentally shot himself."
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