What to Know
- Crews responded to the scene near 7907 Catalina Circle in Tamarac after receiving a call just after 7 a.m. about a domestic disturbance.
A Broward Sheriff's deputy fatally shot a knife-wielding suspect who authorities say stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death in her Tamarac apartment Wednesday morning.
Deputies responded to the scene near 7907 Catalina Circle in Tamarac after receiving a call just after 7 a.m. about a domestic disturbance in the area, BSO officials said.
BSO spokeswoman Veda Coleman Wright told media members that the deputy opened fire on a man who was armed with a knife and who had stabbed his ex-girlfriend inside the home.
The suspect, identified as 43-year-old Ronny Santana Rodriguez, was airlifted to Broward Health Medical Center, where he later died. The woman, 44-year-old Rosa Hilda Martinez, was pronounced dead at the apartment.
"[Deputies] tried to get the subject to surrender peacefully, that did not happen. They had to take measures to protect their own lives," said Rod Skirvin, president of the Broward Police Benevolent Association. "There were lives saved today, potentially more lives could have been at danger."
Before deputies arrived at the scene, Rodriguez got into a physical altercation with Martinez's current boyfriend, who was stabbed but was able to get Martinez's three children and grandmother to safety, officials said.
Officials said Martinez lived at the apartment with her children and mother, who weren't injured. None of the deputies involved were injured.
The veteran sergeant who fired his weapon was placed on administrative assignment.
BSO detectives are investigating Martinez's murder, while Florida Department of Law Enforcement officials have taken over the investigation of the shooting.
