'I'm The Person With The Gun' Says Accused Killer Of Woman, Teen In 911 Call
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
SUNRISE (CBSMiami) – In a chilling 911 call, the accused killer of a woman and her daughter is heard calmly talking to the operator after police say they may have been dead for days inside the Sunrise home he was living in.
Police identified the two shooting victims whose bodies were found inside the home after the accused shooter Kevin Nelson, 32, kept SWAT teams at bay for several hours on Monday.
In the phone call, Nelson appears to be confessing to killing his girlfriend Karen Lyle, 40, and her 15-year-old daughter Shanice Smith.
Dispatcher: "Did you see the person with a gun?"
Nelson: "I'm the person with the gun."
Dispatcher: "You're the person with the gun? Did anybody get shot?"
Nelson: "Yes."
Dispatcher: "Who got shot?"
Nelson: "Karen Lyle and Shanice Smith."
Dispatcher: "Where are they now?"
Nelson: "Dead."
Dispatcher: "They're dead?"
Nelson: "Yes."
The bodies of the two women were found inside the home after Nelson surrendered to authorities.
Nelson was booked into the Broward jail early Tuesday on two counts of murder without premeditation, court records show. Later the same day, he appeared in court. Keeping his head down while in cuffs and shackles, Nelson made his first court appearance and learned he was being held with no bond.
Just a day before, the standoff started around 11 a.m., when police received a 911 call from someone saying they had heard shots fired inside Del Rio Village, a townhouse complex just east of University Drive.
When officers arrived, they made contact with Nelson by phone and all he said was, "Yeah, I'm here," then hung up and refused to come out.
Fearing Nelson was armed, a SWAT team was called in as police negotiators attempted to get him to surrender.
Nelson refused to come out and spoke to a negotiator during which he said, "I hurt people. I'm a failure and I'm going to prison forever," according to his arrest report.
Four hours later, Nelson surrendered. That's when police found the two bodies. Shanice was dead on the landing of the stairs with a bullet wound to the cheek. Her mom, Karen, was found in the master bathroom. Each had been there since Friday, covered in a blanket from the neck down.
Detectives later spoke with Lyle's brother who told them he got a text message from Nelson during the stand-off saying, "Shanice, Karen and me are dead. The cops is here and the news crew."
Detectives said he also admitted to Karen's friend that he killed them both.
After the standoff ended, investigators said he told them, "I'm in trouble. There are two dead people in there." "I can't explain this. No matter what I say it doesn't matter. The facts are still there."
As for a motive, Nelson reportedly told police that he contacted one of Karen's friends to say that he was afraid the victim was cheating on him, lying and embarrassing him.
Michelle Eddy from the Sunrise Police Department said Karen lived in the home with Nelson but could not confirm whether Shanice lived there as well. The daughter was not directly related to Nelson, Eddy said.
Friends of Shanice brought flowers to her home. They remembered her at Piper high school where they released balloons before school. They called her a gentle teen who's life was snatched from her.
"She was like a quiet person but she was really loving and bubbly. She was the first person to go up and say hi and hug you for no matter what," said Piper High sophomore Trevor Wilson.
Several neighbors told CBS4 News that this was a troubled couple – often arguing in public outside their home and cops being called to the home numerous times for domestic complaints over the past year or so.
When Lyle informed her family that she wanted to marry Nelson last April, her older half-brother, Kenroy Walker, warned her against it.
"I told her not to get married," Walker said.
Why? Because Walker said the couple argued all the time.
"I said something bad gonna's happen one day if they don't stop arguing," Walker said, recalling a time just weeks before the couple's wedding when Walker and Lyle arrived at his home.
He said Walker was armed with a gun and Lyle armed with a box cutter.
They did get married and Sunrise police say something bad did happen.
Shanice's father, Anthony Cruz, an entertainer and reggae singer posted on his Facebook page, "I can't believe they kill my one and only daughter in Fort Lauderdale."
Walker, meanwhile, sent a message to Nelson.
"I hope he rot in hell," Walker said.
According to the Sun Sentinel, court records show Nelson was arrested during a domestic disturbance in October 2016 at the same home in the 7700 block of Balboa Street.
According to the arrest report, Nelson repeatedly hit a woman who lived there with him after she tried to stop him from throwing bleach on the bedroom furniture.
The woman's daughter told police at the time that she heard her mother screaming, telling her to call 911. She could also hear the couple struggling in the upstairs bedroom and when she went up to check on her mom, she saw Nelson on top of her, the report said. When police arrived, they could smell the bleach and saw blood on the walls and the couch, the report said. Nelson was ordered to stay away from the victim as a condition of his pre-trial release in that case. The order was revoked about a month later after the Broward State Attorney's Office decided not to move forward with the case and the charges were dropped, court records show.
