OPA-LOCKA, Fla. – A man who eluded police and led them on a chase that ended in Opa-locka tried to take refuge in a family member’s home, according to reports from the scene.
Sky 10 was over a house just west of 27th Avenue, east of the Miami-Opa locka Executive Airport, as police a man in handcuffs out of the home.
Margate police said it started as an incident at a TD Bank at 490 North State Road 7.
What followed was a pursuit that went from Broward County into Miami-Dade County. Just before noon on Thursday, the car could be seen from Sky 10 going at high speeds on the Florida turnpike. The driver then exited at the Golden Glades Interchange and headed west on the Palmetto Expressway.
The suspect in a red Ford Mustang then pulled up to a home in Opa-locka that neighbors said belonged to his cousin, surprising teen girls who were home from school inside.
One girl inside the home told Local 10 News that “he just ran in the house and sat down calmly.”
Seandra Pennie, the mother of one of the girls, said the teens were “shook up. They were frightened because the gate got knocked down. It’s just a lot.”
Pennie found out what happened while she was at work.
“A security guard at the office was watching it on the news and I kept saying, ‘Wait, that’s the house where my baby is. Hold on.’ And they’re like ‘are you serious?’ And I’m grabbing the girl’s phone and she was like, ‘What’s wrong with that lady?’ But I saw it was the house and I said, ’Nah, I gotta go.’ "
The red Mustang that the man was driving was towed from the scene.
According to the FBI, “a suspect is in custody. No further information is being released at this time.”
Local 10 News continues to gather information on what led up to the chase and what charges the suspect faces.