PBSO: Man’s troubled life ends in shooting
WEST PALM BEACH — Randall Cleveland’s life was marked by run-ins with the law and even two stints in prison, one of which ended just a year ago, right before his 26th birthday.
He never saw 28. Cleveland died and a man with him was injured at about 6:45 p.m. Saturday, when a person or persons in another vehicle fired at them as the vehicles traveled south on Haverhill Road near 45th Street in suburban West Palm Beach, the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office said.
The car then crashed at the entrance to the Grand Isle condominium complex, about four blocks south of 45th Street.
Authorities did not say whether Cleveland or his associate also fired shots. A sheriff’s spokeswoman said Monday the investigation remains open.
The Sheriff ’s Office also has not named the person shot with Cleveland, saying he is a witness, but it did say he is expected to survive his injuries. PBSO did not identify the hospital where he is receiving care.
“He didn’t deserve it. He didn’t deserve it,” Cleveland’s father, also Randall Keith Cleveland, said Monday. “He didn’t mess with nobody.”
The elder Cleveland still was too distraught to talk at length Monday and did not provide either survivors or funeral details. But he did say that his son, after coming out of prison, “was on the right path.”
The Sheriff ’s Office as of Monday night had neither provided any other details of the shooting nor suggested a motive.
A family friend said the younger Cleveland — his name has been spelled both Randall and Randell — graduated from John I. Leonard High School in Greenacres.
His adult years in and around West Palm Beach saw him booked into the Palm Beach County Jail eight times between January 2010 and August 2015 on charges of theft and drug and weapon possession. That last time led to a stint in state prison from December 2015 to May 2017.
He also served a sentence in state prison from May to December 2014 following an arrest on drug charges in Martin County.
Anyone with information about Saturday’s shooting is asked to contact Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County at 800-458-TIPS (8477). Callers to Crime Stoppers can be anonymous.