Suspect in cop killing captured
POMPANO BEACH, Florida (CNN) — Police captured an escaped prisoner who allegedly shot a sheriff’s deputy while being transported to court Wednesday, the Broward County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office said.
Aerial video from CNN affiliate WSVN showed a man the station identified as escapee Michael Mazza sitting in the back of a Hollywood, Florida, police car. The cruiser was parked outside a pawnshop surrounded by yellow police tape.
Mazza was under transport to court Wednesday morning when he overpowered and fatally shot Deputy Paul Rein, 76, and escaped in the transport van, Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti said.
Rein, 76, was pronounced dead at North Broward Medical Center, Lamberti said.
Rein was shot and pushed out of the van and left in a Pompano Beach parking lot, authorities said.
Police were hunting for Mazza, 40, who was on his way to appear in court in Fort Lauderdale on a robbery charge.
Mazza, who was serving two life sentences for robbery, was in a wheelchair in the transport van because of complaints of back pain.
Lamberti’s spokesman Elliot Cohen said authorities now suspect Mazza was faking.
The white transport van, with green stripes and Sheriff written on the side, was found shortly before 10 a.m. ET in a parking lot of a residential area in northern Broward County, CNN’s John Zarrella reported.
The discovery prompted officials to put 19 schools in the Pompano Beach area on lockdown as authorities looked for Mazza, who is believed to be carrying the deputy’s weapon.
The suspect may have gotten into a white 2006 Nissan Maxima or Altima with license number W84 QZY, CNN affiliate WSVN in Miami reported.
The deputy was found lying in a Pompano Beach parking lot after the Broward County Sheriff’s Office got a call saying the deputy had been thrown from the transport vehicle, Cohen said.
Cohen said it’s not clear whether the suspect overpowered the deputy on his own or if he had outside help.
We think that this has the smell, at least, of a preplanned escape, Cohen told reporters later.
Authorities are questioning witnesses who saw the deputy being pushed out of the vehicle.
found here.
