Details Emerge In Deadly Hostage Standoff In Deerfield Beach
DEERFIELD BEACH (CBSMiami) – Investigators with the Broward Sheriff's Office are still trying to figure out what led to a standoff where a Central Florida father fatally shot another man at a quiet Deerfield Beach R.V. park before he barricaded himself inside an R.V., and stabbed his wife and two young sons, killing one of them.
According to the Broward Sheriff's Office, William De Jesus, 37, of Port Orange, drove his red Mustang into the Highland Woods RV Park, located at 900 NE 48th Street in Deerfield Beach, around 6:20 p.m. Thursday. He was with his wife, Deanna De Jesus and their two children, Jeshiah, 9, Samson, 7.
De Jesus stopped his car in front of an RV occupied by Ovila Plante, 76, and Pierrette Beauchemin, 70's, both of Quebec.
Plante came out of the RV and approached De Jesus, who started yelling at the elderly man. Plante pushed him away and DeJesus pulled out a gun and shot Plante in the chest. After he fell to the pavement, DeJesus shot him again in the head, according to BSO investigators.
"We heard a lot of noise in the trailer; then two gunshots," said neighbor Loraine Garneau. "We saw the man. He came here and he was bleeding and holding and said, 'Call 911, I got shot two times."
DeJesus then led his family into the RV still occupied by Plante's girlfriend, Pierrette Beauchemin. He put a gun to the elderly woman's head, took everyone into the bathroom and began calling Beauchemin's daughter.
"We saw the guy in the trailer," Garneau said. "He was breaking all the lights because there were lights in the trailer. He did not want to get seen and he was breaking all the lights."
"The camper was like, noise coming out of it, rustling around, you could tell there was people doing things in there," said neighbor Jim Hannan.
At some point, Beauchemin, along with De Jesus' wife and two children, were forced to lie next to each other on the bed with the gunman laying on top of the elderly woman with a gun held to her head. When De Jesus leaned over to kiss his wife and sons, Beauchemin was able to escape the RV and ran to deputies outside.
De Jesus spoke to hostage negotiators by telephone early on in the ordeal, but then stopped communicating as a stand-off with the BSO SWAT team lasted for hours.
Neighbor Victor Fernandez heard negotiators trying to plead to De Jesus.
"They kept saying, William, please respond! We want to make sure you're ok, we want to make sure your family's ok," Fernandez said.
At about 12:30 a.m. the SWAT team entered the RV, and found De Jesus dead, nine-year-old Jeshiah dead, and seven-year-old Samson and mother Deanna, seriously wounded with multiple stab wounds.
BSO Homicide detectives have determined that De Jesus first stabbed his sons with a knife from the camper's kitchen, then stabbed his wife and himself.
Neighbors of the De Jesus family in Port Orange are shocked, hearing what happened. "(I'm) devastated," cried Mark Durkin, "they're my neighbors," he sobbed. " I lived next door to this guy. It scares me. "
Samson was taken to Broward General Medical Center and Deanna was taken to North Broward Medical Center. Both remain hospitalized in serious condition, according to BSO.
