16-year-old charged as adult in attempted homicide case
Police believe he had role in shooting at mobile-home park.
LAKE WORTH — A 16-year-old male from the Greenacres area is facing two counts of attempted first-degree murder for his alleged role in a shooting this month at a Lake Worth mobile-home park.
Patrick Dimauro, 16, was transferred to the Palm Beach County Jail early Friday to face charges as an adult.
He previously was in the custody of juvenile authorities following his Dec. 2 arrest by the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office.
Dimauro is the co-defendant in a shooting in which Gordon Kovie, 48, was accused of firing 12 rounds into a mobile home in Lake Worth after a spurned marriage proposal. Kovie is being held without bail following his Dec. 2 arrest on charges that include attempted first-degree murder, aggravated stalking and firing a weapon into a dwelling.
A woman who authorities say was targeted in the shooting told investigators Kovie had become angry when she rejected his marriage proposal.
At the time of his arrest, Kovie’s ex-girlfriend alleged that he followed her to a mobile home on Almond Drive and fired several shots while she was inside. The woman said she had gone to the mobile home to help a friend with his online business.
Neither the woman nor her friend were hurt, according to the arrest report.
Dimauro was linked to the shooting after the alleged victim told investigators she observed Kovie and a second person on the mobile home’s surveillance camera.
According to the report, deputies were investigating the shooting when an unrelated call for a drug overdose was made from a home on Ridge Street, southeast of the crime scene.
There, deputies found a Mitsubishi Eclipse that matched the description of the vehicle at the shooting scene. Deputies found Kovie and Dimauro and took them into custody.
Deputies say Dimauro told them he and Kovie were at the Rhum Shak, a restaurant and bar in downtown Lake Worth, at the time of the shooting, although surveillance-camera footage does not show them there.
Both men provided investigators with DNA samples.
The arrest report shows that Dimauro is a student at Mavericks High School, an alternative charter school in Palm Springs.
During a court hearing at the Palm Beach County Jail on Friday, Judge Caroline Shepherd ordered that Dimauro be held without bail.
She also ordered that he have no contact either with Kovie or the alleged victims.
Dimauro told investigators he had worked with Kovie that evening and later went with him to the Rhum Shak. It was not clear where the men were working, although an arrest report identifies Kovie as a contractor.