Police shoot, kill woman who allegedly drove at them

COCONUT CREEK — A Boca Raton woman driving a stolen car was shot dead when police officers opened fire during a confrontation in Coconut Creek, the department said.

It happened just before 8:30 p.m. Monday in the 4400 block of Hillsboro Boulevard, near Lyons Road.

According to the Coconut Creek Police Department, an officer spotted a speeding, white Mercedes-Benz heading west on Hillsboro Boulevard.

The officer signaled for the car to pull over and its driver, Brittni Muldrew, 36, pulled into a parking lot near a business complex.

During the traffic stop, the officer discovered the Mercedes had been reported stolen earlier that day in Parkland and called for backup. When two more officers showed up, Muldrew reversed the car, driving toward the officers, the department said.

Two of the three officers fired at the car, and Muldrew was shot. Muldrew died despite officers’ attempts to revive her, police said.

Levon Lopez, 49, a passenger in the Mercedes, was unhurt.

The three police officers were injured, the department said, but exactly how they were injured is not known. All three were released from a hospital Tuesday morning.

An injured police K-9 was still receiving care at an animal hospital Tuesday, but is expected to be fine, the department said.

Lopez, also of Boca Raton, was arrested on a charge of murder while engaged in a felony offense as well as grand theft auto, according to the department. The department did not elaborate on the charges Tuesday.

Lopez is being held in Broward County Main Jail.

The two officers who fired their weapons have been put on administrative leave, per standard procedure, while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney’s Office investigate the shooting, police said.