Man Shot Girlfriend To Death, Ran From Officers: Palmetto Police

PALMETTO, FL — The boyfriend of a woman found shot to death Sunday evening in Palmetto was charged with murder, authorities said.

Officers responded to reports of gunshots in the 1400 block of 12th Avenue West at 11:30 p.m., the Palmetto Police Department said in a news release.

When they arrived, they spoke with two witnesses to the shooting, who directed them to a nearby driveway where the victim, 30-year-old Blanca Guzman Bartolon, was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head, the department said.

The witnesses told police that they received a phone call from the victim saying that she wanted to be picked up from her home because her boyfriend, Cilas Roblero Morales, 25, “was armed and acting aggressively.”

They drove to Palmetto to pick her up and when they got to the home, Roblero Morales fired several shots at them and the victim, hitting Guzman Bartolon, police said. The witnesses ran from the scene.

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Roblero Morales ran west from the scene, as well. He was later found hiding in the Manatee County Fairgrounds by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Department’s K-9 team and helicopter.

He was taken into custody without incident and a gun, believed to be the murder weapon, was found nearby, police said.

He was booked into the Manatee County Jail, and charged with one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder.