09-04-2008, 02:15 PM
BY DIANA MOSKOVITZ AND JENNIFER LEBOVICH
jlebovich@MiamiHerald.com
CANDACE WEST
Police involved shooting at 255 NE 32 Court in Oakland Park on Wednesday night.
Gallery | Drug bust and shooting
Video | Shooting in Oakland Park
Broward Sheriff's Office deputies were involved in two shootings Wednesday night in Tamarac and Oakland Park that left one person dead and two injured.
The incidents were unrelated, but similar in nature, officials said.
Both occured about 9:30 p.m. and involved undercover deputies conducting drug buys, said Sheriff Al Lamberti, who arrived at the scene in Tamarac late Wednesday to brief reporters.
In Tamarac, an undercover officer ordered drugs from an informant, who then contacted two drug dealers who pulled up to a house at Woodlands Boulevard and Bayberry Lane, Lamberti said.
As the dealers arrived in one car, deputies in unmarked vehicles, but with blue lights flashing, surrounded them.
The men tried to get away in the car, at one point speeding toward deputies, he said.
''They would not stop the car. In fact, they tried to run over deputies,'' Lamberti said.
The deputies opened fire, fatally wounding one man and injuring another, who was taken to Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale by helicopter with non-life-threatening injuries.
The car crashed into a house, but no one else was injured.
Gerard Zribi, 54, lives about a block from the Tamarac shooting.
''I was outside with my neighbor talking in the driveway and right away we heard boom, boom, boom, about six or seven shots,'' he said.
A few minutes later he saw squad cars rushing by and then helicopters over the shooting scene.
In Oakland Park, an undercover officer made a similar drug purchase in the 200 block of Northeast 32nd Court.
A dealer arrived, and as deputies moved in, the man in a 2005 Nissan Altima rammed the deputies' cars, striking one five times and another once, Lamberti said.
Two deputies fired, injuring the man, who was taken to Broward General in serious condition.
Lamberti said that it is unusual to have two such shootings in one night, and it ``does concern me a little bit.''
The Tamarac incident was the second fatal shooting involving law enforcement in Broward County in as many days.
On Tuesday, Pembroke Pines police were involved in the fatal shooting of Alejandro Figueroa, 37, of Dania Beach.
Figueroa apparently fired on several cars before barricading himself inside an apartment.
He later confronted officers with a gun, and police said they were forced to fire in self-defense.
jlebovich@MiamiHerald.com
CANDACE WEST
Police involved shooting at 255 NE 32 Court in Oakland Park on Wednesday night.
Gallery | Drug bust and shooting
Video | Shooting in Oakland Park
Broward Sheriff's Office deputies were involved in two shootings Wednesday night in Tamarac and Oakland Park that left one person dead and two injured.
The incidents were unrelated, but similar in nature, officials said.
Both occured about 9:30 p.m. and involved undercover deputies conducting drug buys, said Sheriff Al Lamberti, who arrived at the scene in Tamarac late Wednesday to brief reporters.
In Tamarac, an undercover officer ordered drugs from an informant, who then contacted two drug dealers who pulled up to a house at Woodlands Boulevard and Bayberry Lane, Lamberti said.
As the dealers arrived in one car, deputies in unmarked vehicles, but with blue lights flashing, surrounded them.
The men tried to get away in the car, at one point speeding toward deputies, he said.
''They would not stop the car. In fact, they tried to run over deputies,'' Lamberti said.
The deputies opened fire, fatally wounding one man and injuring another, who was taken to Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale by helicopter with non-life-threatening injuries.
The car crashed into a house, but no one else was injured.
Gerard Zribi, 54, lives about a block from the Tamarac shooting.
''I was outside with my neighbor talking in the driveway and right away we heard boom, boom, boom, about six or seven shots,'' he said.
A few minutes later he saw squad cars rushing by and then helicopters over the shooting scene.
In Oakland Park, an undercover officer made a similar drug purchase in the 200 block of Northeast 32nd Court.
A dealer arrived, and as deputies moved in, the man in a 2005 Nissan Altima rammed the deputies' cars, striking one five times and another once, Lamberti said.
Two deputies fired, injuring the man, who was taken to Broward General in serious condition.
Lamberti said that it is unusual to have two such shootings in one night, and it ``does concern me a little bit.''
The Tamarac incident was the second fatal shooting involving law enforcement in Broward County in as many days.
On Tuesday, Pembroke Pines police were involved in the fatal shooting of Alejandro Figueroa, 37, of Dania Beach.
Figueroa apparently fired on several cars before barricading himself inside an apartment.
He later confronted officers with a gun, and police said they were forced to fire in self-defense.