Police have arrested a man who they say lied to deputies after he shot his friend's girlfriend outside Pompano Beach's city hall early this morning.
Carlos A. Martin, 26, is facing charges of manslaughter, tampering with evidence and possession of a firearm after the bizarre incident which left one woman dead.
It all started when police responded to the parking lot at 100 W. Atlantic Blvd. shortly after 12:30 a.m. after they got a 911 call for a woman in need of assistance.
"When our deputies responded they found the woman laying on the ground," said Keyla Concepcion, with the Broward Sheriff's Office. "She was able to tell deputies that she had been shot."
The woman, identified as 21-year-old Tiffany Littlepage of Fort Lauderdale, was transported to North Broward Medical Center by Pompano Beach Fire-Rescue. She died around 2 a.m. at the hospital, Concepcion said.
Police had been questioning Martin and Littlepage's boyfriend, who were with Littlepage when she was found.
Martin told police that he was sitting in the backseat, playing around with the firearm when it accidentally went off, hitting Littlepage.
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Martin then tried to toss the gun, which Littlepage's boyfriend apparently didn't know he was carrying. The boyfriend told police he believed Littlepage may have been the victim of a drive-by shooting.
To try to hide his crime, Martin told police that Littlepage was intoxicated, but when they searched him, they found bullets in his pockets.
That's when he confessed to the shooting. Martin is being held at the BSO's main jail.
Littlepage's boyfriend was questioned by police and released.
Mother Robin James, who now has to take care of Littlepage's two children, called her a model daughter.
"She's going to be so missed by me, I can't even imagine life without her," James said. "It's the type of person that you look forward to each morning because her personality would just, even if you were sad, if you were around Tiffany, you wouldn't be sad."
