An armed man who was a Palm Beach County homicide suspect died on Tuesday after a pursuit and an armed standoff that involved several agencies on Interstate 95, according to deputies.
According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, a man used a sliding backyard door to break into an apartment and fatally shot a woman on Monday night near Glenwood Drive and Sunny Lane Avenue.
PBCSO deputies issued a Be-On-The-Look-Out alert for the suspect who fled in a black Honda CR-V. Florida Highway Patrol troopers used a maneuver to stop the suspect traveling northbound on I-95 in St. Lucie County.
“Our troopers did observe the suspect to be armed with firearms, so our troopers and deputies took cover and gave every opportunity to surrender peacefully,” FHP Chief Matthew Williams said during a news conference.
According to FHP and the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, the suspect was holding a gun to his head when he got out of the black Honda SUV, and continued to get in and out of the SUV during a standoff.
FHP troopers worked with St. Lucie County and Martin County deputies during the pursuit and the standoff, which prompted them to close I-95 in both directions from Orange Avenue to Okeechobee Road.
“We were trying to de-escalate it with negotiators,” St. Lucie Sheriff Richard Del Toro, Jr., said, adding the SWAT team responded to a standoff that went on for about two hours from late Monday night into early Tuesday morning.
Del Toro said deputies first fired a non-lethal rubber impact weapon, and the suspect dropped his weapon, but he picked it back up, and moved toward law enforcement, so they were forced to fire.
“Four of our deputies were involved in the shooting,” Del Toro said.
Williams said two troopers fired rifles, and a third trooper fired a handgun. They were on paid administrative leave pending the results of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation.
St. Lucie County Fire Rescue personnel pronounced the man dead shortly after 1:20 a.m, according to Del Toro. Indian River County Sheriff’s Office helped to process the crime scene. I-95 reopened at about 6:30 a.m.
Both Del Toro and Williams praised the troopers and the deputies for protecting the public.
The news conference
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