I-95 chaos after suspect kills woman, drives wrong way, cops say
LANTANA, Fla. -- A man killed a woman and drove the wrong way on a major Florida interstate, causing multiple crashes before he was shot and killed by sheriff's deputies.
The suspect shot a woman Wednesday in the parking lot of a Lake Worth shopping center around 9:30 a.m. and took her in his car, fleeing the scene, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said. About 15 minutes later, dispatchers received calls about a car driving south in the northbound lanes of Interstate 95, causing three nearly head-on crashes along the busy interstate in Lantana, between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office says the woman who was shot is dead. Bradshaw said the suspect was shot and killed in the car by a deputy who was responding to the scene of the third crash along with the Florida Highway Patrol. Bradshaw said the suspect's movements in the vehicle made the deputy fear for his life, but Bradshaw didn't detail what the man was doing. The deputy wasn't injured.
Bradshaw said a trooper had tried to deploy a Taser before the fatal shooting, but it didn't work.
The drivers of the vehicles involved in the three accidents were injured, but none of the injuries were life-threatening, Bradshaw said.
The suspect was also involved in another shooting last night in West Palm Beach, Bradshaw said.
"It appears that through hard work and diligence here, and a timely response by the FHP and our deputy, we have averted this guy not only crashing into a whole bunch more cars on this side of the road, but escaping here and going on to do whatever he's going to do, which is obviously involved in shooting people, because he did one last night and obviously the one here today," Bradshaw said.
Bradshaw said deputies have identified the suspect, but aren't currently releasing his name.
Interstate 95 was closed in both directions in the area following the shooting, and will likely be closed for the rest of the day as investigators process the massive scene, Bradshaw said.
Earlier, officials incorrectly said the suspect stole the woman's car and two people died in a crash.
In an unrelated incident around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, a man was shot dead on I-95 southbound in Boca Raton, about 20 miles south of the scene in Lantana. Deputies responding to the scene of a single-vehicle crash found a man suffering from gunshot wounds, reports CBS affiliate WPEC.
The man died at the hospital.
