DNA, video link West Palm Beach man to April fatal shooting, police say in making murder arrest
WEST PALM BEACH — One West Palm Beach man shot and killed another this month in a dispute over failed payment to a woman for sex acts, city police alleged in arresting him on a murder charge Friday.
Ainsley Gayle, 25, was one of two men who approached the victim April 13 in the city's Roosevelt Estates neighborhood off Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, according to court documents.
The department has not identified the victim, found lying on the sidewalk in the 1300 block of Eighth Street. His family invoked its right to privacy under a 2018 state constitutional amendment allowing crime victims or their families to withhold their names from public reports.
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Palm Beach County Judge Ted Booras ordered Gayle held without bail. Court records indicate the county Public Defender's Office is representing Gayle. It does not comment on open cases.
Gayle told investigators the other man, who accompanied him to the encounter, fired the fatal shot. The Palm Beach Post is not naming him because he had not been arrested as of Monday morning. Surveillance-camera video indicates the other man had returned to their car while Gayle still was firing at the victim, police reported.
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The city's ShotSpotter gunfire detection system recorded eight shots about 9:45 a.m. The video showed a car driving to a home, two passengers climbing out and one shooting the victim, documents show. The woman told investigators she had asked the men to confront the victim after he had refused to pay her.
Police said they traced the vehicle to Riviera Beach and found Gayle's DNA in it. According to Gayle's arrest report, he had no comment when shown the video.
The death is one of eight homicides in West Palm Beach this year, according to a Palm Beach Post online database. The city recorded 23 homicides in 2021.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: West Palm Beach man facing murder charge following April shooting
