Fort Lauderdale

Woman in Custody After Man Shot and Killed at Fort Lauderdale Home

Police say woman fled scene in car and refused to get out until SWAT, hostage negotiators showed up

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A woman accused of fatally shooting a man at a home in Fort Lauderdale Wednesday morning was taken into custody after barricading herself inside a car, authorities said.

Fort Lauderdale Police said officers responded to the shooting around 8:30 a.m. at a one-story apartment in the area of Northwest 2nd Street and 14th Avenue.

When officers arrived they found a man suffering from gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A woman accused of fatally shooting a man at a home in Fort Lauderdale was taken into custody after barricading herself inside a car. NBC 6's Marissa Bagg reports

Police said a woman suspected in the shooting fled in the victim's car but officers found her about four miles away along Northwest 31st Avenue and 9th Street.

The woman initially refused to get out of her car, and hostage negotiators were called in, police said.

"Our SWAT team and our hostage negotiation team were called to the scene and after a brief confrontation with the suspect, she did immediately surrender without any further problems," Fort Lauderdale Police spokesperson Casey Liening said.

Family members later identified the victim as 60-year-old Willie Atwell, a father of four, and said the accused shooter is his girlfriend's niece.

Neighbors and family members identified the shooter as 41-year-old Juanita Sawyer, a convicted felon who spent three years in prison for battery and false imprisonment.

Police haven't officially identified the victim and said they're looking into how the man and Sawyer knew each other or if they were related.

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