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BSO: 2 Dead In Shooting At Large Gathering In Lauderdale Lakes

LAUDERDALE LAKES (CBSMiami) – Investigators at the Broward Sheriff's Office say a crowd of people ignored warnings to stay safe at home during the COVID-19 pandemic and gathered in a Lauderdale Lakes parking lot early Monday morning. And while there, violence erupted that left a man and woman dead from gunshot wounds.

A video on Instagram shows the aftermath of the deadly double shooting as cars drive past two bodies on the ground.

"Bro, they dead, bro," a person on the video is heard saying.

BSO Sgt. Kevin Forsberg said someone shot and killed the man and a woman, who were part of a crowd in the parking lot of a shopping plaza at Oakland Park Blvd. and N State Rd. 7 around 5 a.m. Forsberg said surveillance video and cellphone video shows that dozens of cars and lots of people were gathered in the parking lot, in violation of the safer at home and social distancing recommendations.

"If people would adhere to the local elected officials orders to stay at home and not come out, this probably would have been avoided," Forsberg said.

After the shooting, the crowd fled, Forsberg said, but then some returned and not to help the victims, whose identities are not being released.

"They were taking videos, which we later learned were uploaded to social media," he said.

Forsberg told CBS4 News that's not all the crowd did.

"We were able to see in some of the videos where critical evidence was also removed from the scene," he said.

On Tuesday night, another crowd gathered at the same spot, this time for a vigil to mourn the deaths. A woman at the vigil said she is the cousin of the male victim, Andre McFadden.

Detectives are trying to find his killer and BSO is also concerned about recent large gatherings of younger people as clubs and restaurants are closed due to COVID-19 and they look for places to hang out.

"It doesn't appear to be that it's getting out of control but it appears that it could be an issue that needs to be addressed later on," Forsberg said.

BSO is asking for anyone who witnessed the murders, removed evidence or has information about the murders to come forward and call Broward County Crime Stoppers at (954) 493-TIPS.

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