LAUDERHILL, FLA. (WSVN) - An elderly family was tied up and terrorized by their own tenant after attempting to evict her for not paying rent.
The two elderly people were both tied up and robbed inside their home at Northwest 17th Court and 51st Avenue. Lauderhill Police responded to the scene at around 1:30 p.m., Thursday.
One of the victims said the suspect was renting the space inside his garage for about three months. They were in the process for evicting her for not paying her monthly rent, and then, the victim said, she came to their home with a BB gun, according to police. The tenant tied up the 76-year-old homeowner and his 79-year-old mother-in-law before proceeding to ransack the house.
She grabbed the homeowner’s wallet and left in his daughter’s blue Pontiac. “This is my family. Nobody was here to help him,” said the victim’s daughter, Cindy Negron. “Honestly, it just makes me mad.”
The homeowner and his daughter both said the suspect put a gun to his head and threatened to kill him. “She said, ‘If you move, I’ll kill you,'” the victim, Francisco Negron said through a translator.
“She came to the back door knocking. They didn’t open the door,” the victim’s daughter said. “She came around to the front door. Unfortunately, the front door was open, so she came in the house, and that’s basically when she saw them two, told them not to move and held them at gunpoint.”
According to 7News sources, the suspect was taken into custody a few blocks away from the victim’s house. She complained of a shortness of breath as she was arrested and was taken to the hospital as a precaution.
The car has also been recovered.
No one was seriously hurt. “It could have been worse,” the victim’s daughter said. “At any time, it could have been worse. If she would have came back, it would have been over.”
The suspect, later identified as 30-year-old Sharday Shorter, now faces a list of charges. “Ma’am, you’re charged with home invasion with a weapon, false imprisonment of an adult — two counts — and grand theft auto,” said a judge during her hearing.
She faced a judge, Friday morning, and is now being held without bond.
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