PBSO deputy shoots ‘serious bad guy’
Sheriff: Riviera Beach man pulled gun as cops tried to detain him.
Man who pulled a gun on agents who were there to arrest him on burglary and weapons-related offenses had long criminal history.
RIVIERA BEACH — A Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputy shot “a serious bad guy” Wednesday afternoon after that man pulled a gun on agents who were there to arrest him on burglary and weapons-related offenses, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said.
Sheriff ’s authorities say that his criminal history stems back to 1998 for charges including drugs, assaults on officers and burglary.
“You just keep on going. This is a serious bad guy here,” Bradshaw said about the man’s rap sheet.
Investigators identified the man Wednesday night as Lorenzo Fernelle Williams, 32, of Riviera Beach. He was wanted on a warrant for charges that included burglary with assault, being a felon in possession of a firearm or ammunition, grand theft and criminal mischief.
On Wednesday, a charge of aggravated assault with a firearm was added.
Williams was in surgery Wednesday afternoon, and was expected to survive his injuries, the sheriff said.
At about noon Wednesday, agents with the sheriff ’s warrants division arrived at a home in the 1300 block of West 27th Street in Riviera Beach to arrest the man. The man was visiting people at the home and did not live there, according to Bradshaw.
A woman was outside on a phone and ran inside.
“Our guys figured, ‘He’s probably in there; she’s going to warn him,’” Bradshaw said. He said one agent went to the home’s backyard and, just as he did, two men, both with guns, crashed through a window in the home and into the yard.
He said deputies shouted, “Gun! Gun! Gun!”
As one man started to raise his gun, a deputy shot him one time and he fell to the ground, the sheriff said.
The other man fled and has not been caught, Bradshaw said. They aren’t sure who that man is, but they do not believe there is a threat to anyone in the area.
Authorities haven’t identified the deputy who fired the shot. He is on paid administrative leave, per department policy.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting. In February 2017, PBSO signed a deal with FDLE to handle all deputy-involved shootings.
Wednesday’s incident is the first deputy-involved shooting since deputies shot and killed Hugo Selva in February on Interstate 95.