FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Fort Lauderdale man was shot dead early Monday in the driveway of his home as he left for work, police and family members said.
Casey Liening, a spokeswoman for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, said 53-year-old Michel Jean-Charles was shot multiple times just before 5 a.m. in the in the 700 block of Northwest Second Avenue.
Jean-Charles was rushed to Broward Health Medical Center, where he died of his injuries.
The gunfire woke up his sleeping family members and other neighbors.
"I saw the flashlight hit the body and I said, 'Mom that's Michel and I saw the puddle of blood," said Lubin Jean, a relative of the victim.
Another neighbor, Mark Robbins, said he heard the noise but thought it was firecrackers.
A man who lives in an apartment overlooking the crime scene said police knocked on his door about an hour after he heard gunshots and told him to stay inside.
"I just know he was a hard-working man," Zach Walter said about the victim. "Every time I would see him, he was either going to work or coming from work."
Walter, who said he lives in the unit directly above the victim's, said he isn't surprised that a shooting happened in their neighborhood.
"So it's not Iike, 'Wow, I can't believe this happened,'" Walter said. "It's just like, 'I can't believe this happened to this guy.'"
Anyone with further information about the shooting is asked to contact Detective J. Jaggers at 954-828-5970 or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.
