Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
‘It’s a tragedy on both ends’
Man shot by cops had allegedly killed children’s grandmother
The man shot dead by police in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday night had been accused of gunning down a woman in front of her daughter and five grandchildren earlier this year.
Fort Lauderdale police on Thursday identified the dead man as Dytadious Mobley, 31, who lived in the city.
Mobley was the father of three of the children, who saw him kill their 55-year-old grandmother, Bernice Jefferson, on Jan. 16, police said.
Five officers shot at Mobley, said Jeff Marano, president of the Broward County Police Benevolent Association. Police on Thursday did not identify who they were or what agencies employed them.
Members of the U.S. Marshals Service South Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force caught up with Mobley on Wednesday evening at a shopping center in the 900 block of West Sunrise Boulevard.
Gunfire burst out around 6:10 p.m, drawing a large crowd of bystanders.
Mobley “refused to cooperate” with detectives who were “forced to return fire” after Mobley “discharged several firearms, multiple times” at them, Fort Lauderdale police Detective Tracy Figone said Thursday.
Before the gunfire began, Mobley had refused orders to get out of a vehicle, Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Rick
Maglione said at the scene Wednesday. Officers then turned to “less lethal methods” to get Mobley out of the car, Maglione said.
“The suspect responded to [those efforts] by discharging a firearm at the police officers that were on the scene,” he said. “The officers responded by discharging their firearms, and I’m sad to report that the subject has passed away.”
Two handguns were found inside Mobley’s vehicle, authorities said.
The Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy on Mobley on Thursday afternoon.
Three months ago, Bernice Jefferson was shot several times while in the 1800 block of Northwest 11th Place in Fort Lauderdale, about four miles west of where Mobley died. Jefferson died at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale.
Her daughter and Mobley’s ex-girlfriend, Letraveya Jefferson, spoke about the incidents.
“At the end of the day, I’m still a motherless child, my kids are fatherless and at the end of the day, it’s just … it’s crazy,” she told WSVN-Ch. 7. “It’s a tragedy on both ends. For me, it’s my mom, my kids’ father and justice still hasn’t been served. There’s no closure. There’s no peace. There’s no justice.
“That’s not what my mama would have wanted. That’s not how it was gonna go.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating officers’ actions during the shooting.
In a Twitter post Wednesday night, Maglione said: “We owe it to the police officers, to this community, and to the family of the decedent to do a thorough and objective investigation.”
The stretch of West Sunrise Boulevard where Mobley was shot is east of Interstate 95 at Powerline Road. It remained closed overnight and into Thursday morning as the police investigation continued.
Before and after sunrise, at least seven vehicles were towed from the scene, including a white Dodge Magnum. Bullets had pierced the passenger door of the station wagon, and two of its windows were missing.