Cops say security guard for Miami ‘zoo shot his ex. It was second shooting in 3 months
MIAMI FL May 24 2021— Jonathan Clemente, a security guard at a Miami zoo featured in the “Tiger King” Netflix series, was jailed this week after police say he shot his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend, critically wounding the man.
It was the second shooting involving Clemente in just three months.
The Miami Herald has learned that Clemente, 23, had already been under investigation since March, when he shot and killed a friend in an unrelated incident. The victim, Frankie Cordero, 27, was found dead on a roadway on the 13000 block of Old Biscayne Drive on March 2.
The two were longtime friends and had spent the day together. As Clemente was dropping Cordero off at his house, they got into an argument. During a struggle, Clemente fatally shot Cordero, and also shot and wounded himself, according to Miami-Dade police.
Clemente was not arrested and he was released as authorities kept investigating his claim of self-defense. Exact details of the shooting, and Clemente’s claims, have yet to be made public. A decision on filing charges rests with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, which must weigh whether it can overcome Florida’s Stand Your Ground self-defense law.
“We would not be commenting on a criminal review,” Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office spokesman Ed Griffith said on Friday.
Cordero’s mother, Carolyn Villalobos, was stunned Friday when she learned from a reporter that Clemente had been arrested in this week’s shooting. She was so outraged that on Friday evening, Villalobos drove to Kendall Regional Hospital to meet with the family of the 30-year-old man who is clinging to life. They grieved together.
“I wanted to give them a sense of hope,” she said, adding: “If he had been put away for murdering my son, (the second shooting) wouldn’t have happened.”
Villalobos said her son was unarmed when he was killed, and that police told her that Clemente was captured on gas station surveillance video shortly before the shooting pulling a gun on Cordero. Clemente, she insisted, was not acting in self-defense.
“My son was not a threat to him,” Villalobos said.
Cordero, who leaves behind a 5-year-old daughter, had just gotten a degree to work as an electrical technician. “He was so excited about it,” she said. “Things were starting to line up for him.”
As for Clemente, his father, Hervis Clemente, described him as a “good kid who always had problems, mental problems. Chemical imbalances.”
He said his son was still shaken by the incident with his friend, Cordero. “That affected him a lot. He would cry almost every night,” Hervis Clemente said.
As police and prosecutors continued their probe, Clemente had been free to resume work. He is a licensed security guard, registered to carry a firearm, and was working at the Zoological Wildlife Foundation. It’s run by Mario Tabraue, who garnered national fame after he was featured as a side character in the “Tiger King” documentary series, which explored the murky world of exotic cats and private zoos. Clemente did not work there during the filming of the series.
Tabraue did not return requests for comment on Friday. One source familiar with the zoo confirmed his job there, as did Clemente’s father. “It was a recent job, within the last two to three months,” Hervis Clemente said.
Jonathan Clemente returned to the Miami-Dade Police Department’s radar on Wednesday night, when he called 911 to say that he had been involved in another shooting.
Police say that Clemente admitted to stalking his former girlfriend, whom he dated for two years. She was in a car with her new boyfriend on Wednesday night when he opened fire on their car outside a home on the 5000 block of Southwest 98th Avenue, he told police. They managed to drive off, eventually stopping near a gas station on Bird Road and 107th Avenue.
Both were taken to Kendall Regional Medical Center, where they remain. The 30-year-old man, who was shot in the head, remains in critical condition. The 23-year-old woman, who was shot in the chest, is in stable condition.
Clemente told detectives he had tracked the couple down at a home and shot them when they pulled up in their car, according to his arrest affidavit. He admitted to shooting the two because he was “upset” that the woman had broken up with him and started with the new man, according to an arrest report by Miami-Dade Detective Juan Segovia.
Clemente used his father’s gun in this week’s shooting, investigators believe, because his gun had been confiscated by police after the March homicide.
Clemente is being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on two counts of attempted murder. A judge on Friday ordered him held with no bond. During a brief hearing Friday, Clemente said he did not yet have an attorney.
“It’s unfortunate. I feel bad for both families,” his father said. “He definitely lost control.”
