Deerfield Beach

Man Facing Murder Charge After Victim of 2017 Broward Shooting Dies Years Later

David Hargrove, 56, was arrested Monday in connection with the May 6, 2017 shooting of Steven Lilnard Monroe, Broward Sheriff's Office officials said

NBCUniversal Media, LLC

A Deerfield Beach man is facing a murder charge in connection with a 2017 shooting after authorities said the victim died years later.

David Hargrove, 56, was arrested Monday in connection with the May 6, 2017 shooting of Steven Lilnard Monroe, Broward Sheriff's Office officials said.

Monroe, 49 years old at the time, had been found shot in the back in the 2600 block of Northwest 15th Street near Fort Lauderdale, officials said.

David Hargrove
Broward Sheriff's Office
David Hargrove

The shooting was investigated at the time but after detectives investigated all leads the case went cold.

Detectives said Monroe spent the next several years in and out of the hospital dealing with complications related to the shooting until this past September, when he was admitted to the hospital with a life-threatening medical condition believed to be directly related to his injuries from the 2017 shooting.

After Monroe died on October 20, 2021, the case was turned over to BSO’s Cold Case Unit, and in February, the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the victim’s cause of death to be complications from the gunshot wound he sustained in 2017 and the manner of death as homicide, officials said.

Detectives were eventually able to identify Hargrove as a suspect in the shooting, and he was booked into jail.

At Hargrove’s first court appearance in Broward Tuesday, defense attorney David Smith hinted there was more to the story.

“Your honor, as often is said, you can indict a ham sandwich, but nonetheless I realize there is probable cause,” he said. “We will address any issue of bond at a later time.”

The judge ordered Hargrove to remain in the Broward County Jail without bond.

The arrest isn't Hargrove's first brush with the law.

Court records show Hargrove was indicted for first-degree murder in 1986 but was convicted on a lesser charge of manslaughter and cocaine trafficking, among other crimes.

Hargrove, then 21, was found guilty in the shooting death of 33-year-old John McNeil. He killed McNeil for trying to break up a fight between Hargrove and another man, according to the original arrest report.

Hargrove was sentenced to 12 years in state prison and was released in 2005.

He has been arrested several times on charges that included forgery, drug possession, driving with a suspended license, fleeing and eluding police, battery on a law enforcement officer and injuring a police dog, records show.

Contact Us