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Deputies arrest second man in connection to fatal shooting outside Kissimmee lounge last year

Crime Scene (Nick Papantonis)

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man wanted for his role in a deadly shooting in the parking lot of a local nightclub.

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Friday, deputies arrested 29-year-old Joshua Franceschi at HCA Florida Osceola Hospital in Kissimmee on an arrest warrant.

According to his arrest affidavit, Kissimmee Police Department received a tip from Crimeline about a man being transported to the hospital under the alias “Juan Rivera,” but it was Franceschi.

Franceschi was arrested for Premeditated Murder and Battery from a shooting incident on November 14, 2023, at 3262 Oxford Drive in Kissimmee.

Read: One person arrested, second suspect sought in fatal shooting outside Kissimmee lounge

Investigators said Franceschi acted in the death of Joshua Daniel Mitchell, who was found in a parking lot with a single gunshot wound.

According to investigators the night of the incident, investigators said Christopher Garrett and Franceschi coordinated the attack on Mitchell.

According to an incident report from the sheriff’s office, investigators interviewed a witness who had spent the evening with Mitchell up until the shooting happened.

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The witness told deputies they were hanging out in the parking lot of LUNGO Lounge with two men, later identified as 31-year-old Christopher Garrett and 28-year-old Joshua Franceschi, when Mitchell was shot.

Investigators said that night, Franceschi hit Mitchell with enough force to make him stagger backward, and without hesitation, Garrett, who was arrested earlier this year, extended his arm and fired one round at Mitchell.

After the shooting, Garrett and Francesch drove away in an SUV.

Mitchell was taken to a local hospital for treatment but later died from his injuries.

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