Ahmad Jihad Bojeh, Kissimmee, Florida man who shot and killed 3 tourists is alleged to have stalked his victims prior to killing them as ‘insanity plea,’ which led to prior attempted murder charge being dropped comes under review.
The families of 3 men who were ‘randomly’ gunned down at the hands of an Osceola, Florida man with a history of mental illness and prior episodes of firing at random vehicles allege that the victims in the days prior stalked by the suspect.
Douglas Kraft, 68, of Columbus, Ohio; Robert Kraft, 70, of Holland, Michigan; and James Puchan, 68, of Galena, Ohio, were in Florida to attend a car show when they were allegedly shot and killed by Ahmad Jihad Bojeh in the front yard of their Kissimmee rental on Saturday afternoon.
Victims families claim 3 men were stalked in random killings
At the time of the shooting, the men who had been scheduled to leave the day before were bogged down by a rental car that needed to be switched over.
‘They attended the Mecum Car Show in Kissimmee, Florida, with brothers and longtime friends and were staying at an Airbnb,’ the victims’ families said in a statement, shared by the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.
‘While waiting for assistance after rental car trouble and preparing to travel home, they were being observed from a distance by an unknown individual who was well-known to local law enforcement,’ the statement continued.
‘There were no known interactions between the men and this individual prior to the event; they were then approached and senselessly murdered. This was a random, tragic act,’ the statement went on.
Brothers Douglas and Robert, and their friend, James, were described as ‘three wonderful men,’ whose deaths left their families ‘with an unexpected, unimaginable loss.’
Bojeh, whose house is next door to the rental property the trio were renting, was arrested just an hour later on three counts of first-degree murder.
Ahmad Jihad Bojeh prior insanity plea for attempted murder comes into question
Bojeh was previously charged with attempted murder over a 2021 shooting at a Wawa gas station in Kissimmee in which he fired at random cars, striking a motorist, only to be acquitted on insanity grounds the following year when the case came up for trial.
Florida law allows a defendant to plead guilty by reason of insanity as a result of mental illness which preempts them from understand the consequences of their actions or not knowing what they did was wrong.
The doctor evaluating Bojeh at the time of his plea no longer met the criteria of involuntary commitment to a mental institution, which requires a ‘substantial likelihood that the defendant will inflict serious bodily harm on himself or another person.’
Records show Bojeh had received mental health treatment at a local facility and held a job during the 2021 incident. Nevertheless the troubled man, was still the subject of frequent deputy calls to the Indian Hill neighborhood where he resided.
Bojeh’s prior criminal history includes mostly small, non-violent crimes and drug arrests in Osceola and Orange counties, with nothing indicating a motive for a triple murder.
Bojeh remains held without bond at the Osceola County Jail.
