Man accused of killing Rickenbacker cyclist says he aimed gun at him first, but gun is gone

At sunrise, a shootout on one of America’s most scenic roads was captured on cellphone video and portions of it broadcast on Facebook Live, sending shockwaves through the South Florida cycling community.

Avid motorcyclist Alex Palencia, 49, had interrupted his usual ride on the William Powell Bridge on his way to Key Biscayne when Kadel Piedrahita got off his motorcycle, pointed a gun at Palencia at point-blank range and apparently shot him in the stomach. Piedrahita, then 41, was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault with a firearm.

Miami-Dade District Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle called the cyclist’s death “tragic” and a “senseless shooting,” and warned that her office would not tolerate such gun violence.

On Thursday, five years after Palencia’s death, Piedrahita finally went on trial. And during opening statements, his lawyer warned jurors that what they would not see on any video during the trial was what proved their client’s innocence: a gun that Palencia pointed at Piedrahita before the cyclist was killed, and which remains missing to this day.

“The gun will not be presented as evidence,” said Miami-Dade Public Defender Yanelis Zamora. “The gun should have been moved from there… It was removed from the scene before police even arrived.”

The lawyer told the jury that her client acted in self-defense when he shot Palencia, and that Piedrahita only retrieved the gun after he was hit by Palencia and forced to stop riding his motorcycle. He was then beaten by three bicyclists who punched him in the face and struck his head.

“He (Piedrahita) did the only thing he could do at that point: defend himself,” Zamora said.

But prosecutors who addressed jurors before Zamora’s hearing told a different story. Assistant Miami-Dade District Attorney Conor Soper called Palencia’s death a “calculated, rage-filled and unjustified murder.” Soper told jurors in a Facebook Live post that Piedrahita was “boiling with rage” the day before the shooting.

“When the time comes, I’ll break you in two,” the prosecutor said Piedrahita said during the broadcast. “You picked a fight with the wrong guy.”

Don Pan Driver

Palencia died on a Wednesday morning in late August 2019 while riding with a well-known group of cyclists often referred to as the Don Pan Riders. They are so named because they set out in the morning from a Don Pan bakery in South Miami and then ride together north toward the toll booth for Key Biscayne. They then cross the Rickenbacker Causeway and ride into the village before turning around and returning to South Miami.

The morning Palencia died, Piedrahita’s son, also named Kadel, wanted to test the new wheels for his bike, so he asked his father to accompany him on his ride with the Don Pan group. Riding along on his motorcycle and filming or broadcasting the event live was a normal thing for Piedrahita, the father. He was proud of his son, and his lawyer claimed that he himself had been an avid cyclist years ago in Cuba.

The elder Piedrahita joined the group on his motorcycle, holding a Go-Pro camera, just as they passed the toll booth toward the Key. Then something went horribly wrong.

Palencia stopped his motorcycle and Piedrahita stopped his motorcycle. Their argument, caught on video, escalated until Piedrahita shot Palencia. Then Piedra, still with the gun in her hand, chases one of Palencia’s friends but does not shoot him.

When an officer arrived, he found Piedrahita sitting in the street with Palencia lying motionless, practically on his lap. Piedrahita said he yelled at his son to call 911. Police initially let the Piedrahitas go. It’s not entirely clear why. The next day, they picked up the elder Piedrahita from his home and charged him with Palencia’s death.

Simmering dispute

The defense and the prosecution agree on one point: the reason for their feud was a simmering dispute that had already begun before Palencia’s murder.

Prosecutor Soper said that when Palencia noticed Piedrahita following him, the two men had an argument. Piedrahita then kicked Palencia as he was riding his bicycle.

“We know exactly why this happened,” Soper said, telling jurors that Piedrahita had spoken directly to the man he would kill less than 24 hours later on Facebook Live the day before, saying, “I’m going to break you in two. Just touch me…”

But it wasn’t quite that simple, said defense attorney Zamora. In the days before Palencia’s death, Zamora said, the two men had several verbal exchanges. In one of them, she said, Palencia insulted the defendant “with almost every Spanish-Cuban insult in the dictionary.”

Palencia threatened Piedrahita so much that he had little choice but to defend himself, she said.

“He also told him,” Zamora told the jury, “you don’t know me. I would be careful when you are alone with your son.”