CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. — A Coral Springs man is facing attempted murder and other charges after opening fire on a romantic rival and continuing to shoot as the man ran away on Wednesday, according to the city’s police department.
Police said Christopher Jacob Smith, 57, opened fire on the victim’s Jeep while the victim’s son was in the vehicle. The victim suffered a minor graze wound on the shoulder and was treated at Broward Health Coral Springs.
Authorities said it happened just before 3:15 p.m. in the 400 block of Northwest 87th Terrace.
According to an arrest report from the Coral Springs Police Department, the victim said he and his son had returned from Miami and went to a woman’s house to check on her “because they were concerned about her well-being.”
Police said Smith was outside waiting with a gun to confront them. The report states that as the victim rolled up, Smith ”stepped into the roadway and yelled that his foot was trapped beneath one of the Jeep’s tires."
According to police, the victim “immediately attempted to place the Jeep into reverse to move the vehicle off” Smith’s foot, but instead of letting him do that, Smith “produced a handgun from his waistband, pointed it toward the occupied Jeep and fired the weapon.”
The victim told investigators that he immediately got out of the Jeep and ”fled southbound on foot in a zig-zag pattern to avoid being struck by additional gunfire."
“As he opened the driver’s door, he heard another gunshot,” the report states. “(The victim) stated that (Smith) continued firing additional rounds directly at him as he fled, causing him to fear for his life and believe (he) was attempting to kill him.”
The victim’s son ran out as well and followed his father, police said. At one point, Smith entered the vehicle, they said.
Investigators interviewed the woman, who said that Smith “had become increasingly jealous of her relationship with (the victim) and demanded that she choose between the two men,” according to the report.
She told police that Smith had wanted her to move to California with him, which she refused. According to police, she said that immediately before the victim pulled up, Smith pulled a gun “from the glove compartment of his pickup truck and exited the vehicle while armed to confront” him. They said surveillance video corroborated the account.
Smith, police said, made a statement “minimizing his actions” that “was not credible,” though it was redacted from the report.
Police arrested him on charges of attempted first-degree murder, shooting at or into an occupied vehicle, armed burglary and child abuse.
As of Thursday afternoon, Smith was being held in the Broward Main Jail with no listed bond.
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