TAMARAC, Fla. – A man who authorities say was a fugitive wanted in an armed kidnapping drowned Wednesday when police say he jumped into a lake to avoid capture.
It happened shortly before noon at a complex on West Clairmont Circle in Tamarac. Witnesses say the man was a landscaper working at the property and fled when police swarmed the complex.
Fort Lauderdale police say they and U.S. Marshals were looking for the man, whose identity has not been released.
“It is believed he realized he was being followed and he began to flee,” Fort Lauderdale police said in a statement. “While doing so, he jumped into the lake in the complex. Officers attempted to follow him but the conditions were not safe. A multi-jurisdictional dive team request went out for assistance with the water rescue.”
Dive teams pulled the man out of the water, and after police say live-saving measures were taken at the scene, Tamarac Fire Rescue rushed him to Woodmont Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office is handling the death investigation, Fort Lauderdale police said.
Police say the armed kidnapping happened Feb. 13 shortly before 7 p.m. in the 2000 block of Northwest 14th Avenue.
“Two juvenile victims were forced into two vehicles at gunpoint,” Fort Lauderdale police said in a statement. “They were beaten and robbed by a group of suspects. The victims were physically removed from the vehicles a short time later. They were both transported to Broward Health Medical Center by FLFR with non-life-threatening injuries.”
Three other suspects in that alleged kidnapping (Rectina Williams, Dana Reed and Edward German) were previously arrested, police confirmed.
On Wednesday morning, witnesses at the Tamarac complex say they saw police arrive and the man jump into water that authorities say is 30-feet deep.
“I just saw a commotion of Fort Lauderdale police vehicles driving into a building,” said Jorge Ota, a maintenance supervisor. “Apparently, they were looking for somebody.”
The landscaping company the man worked for declined to comment.