Warnings of AI-enhanced images as shooting investigation continues near Lee County bowling alley

LEE COUNTY, Fla. —

Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers is asking for the public’s help identifying suspects after shots were fired outside a Lee County bowling alley Saturday night, but experts are warning against the use of artificial intelligence to enhance suspect photos.

The shooting happened outside HeadPinz on Global Parkway. Newly released video shows people huddled inside a kitchen area moments after gunfire rang out in the parking lot. Authorities say no one was injured.

Around noon Sunday, Crime Stoppers shared a photo of a group of potential suspects, hoping someone would recognize them. Shortly after the images aired on television, the newsroom received an email containing an AI-enhanced version of the same photo.

The sender hoped the added clarity would help the investigation. However, experts say AI-generated enhancements can be misleading and may do more harm than good.

"You can use the model to enhance an image to help you try and identify someone in a picture, but it doesn’t mean that the model is going to be able to get it correct," said Leandro de Castro Silva, Ph.D., a professor at Florida Gulf Coast University.

The original image released by Crime Stoppers does not show clear facial features. According to de Castro Silva, that means AI systems are likely generating faces rather than revealing real ones.

"The way that these models work is by being trained on a huge number of data, including images, videos, text — many things you can get from the web," de Castro Silva said. "Based on this, it’s going to start approximating and creating content for you."

Experts say that could result in faces that look nothing like the actual suspects.

Some community members agree that AI-altered images could confuse the public.

"It’s not right," said Christopher Richmond, an FGCU student. "You’re going to take an image of a suspect, change it in a way where people might not recognize them, and then send it out. Either they’ll find the wrong person or they won’t find anyone at all."

De Castro Silva said artificial intelligence can be helpful for automating certain tasks, but it should not be used to make decisions in criminal investigations.

"We can use it to automate and facilitate some of our tasks," he said, "but not to do the whole job of incriminating someone or making the final decision in this process."

Crime Stoppers and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office are continuing to investigate the shooting and are asking anyone with information to come forward.

Anyone with tips is urged to contact Crime Stoppers or the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

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