POMPANO BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Authorities arrested a gunman after, they said, he opened fire after a collision with another vehicle in Pompano Beach.
Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies and Pompano Beach Fire Rescue units arrived at the scene of the incident along the 2600 block of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, at around midnight on Friday.
Investigators said the suspect, identified as 32-year-old Ricardo Joseph, can be seen on surveillance video running away from the scene while he held the hands of two young children, who were also involved in the crash.
Detectives said he had just fired a gun.
7News cameras captured damage to the victim’s car door, which was smashed in and riddled with bullet holes.
The victim, Lafayette Harvard, said the car he was riding in collided with another car, a 2015 Audi A4.
“We got into an accident, and the guy pulled the gun out, shot at me, shot the car up and took off,” said Harvard.
Detectives said Joseph was behind the wheel of the Audi sedan.
“We get hit, spin around a couple of times,” said Harvard. “We get out of the car, we take a look. We see that he hit us, and he was like, ‘You hit us, and somebody is going to pay,’ and he went to his trunk, got a gun, and when I turned around to see he got a gun, I turned around and he fired a couple of shots, and he went over by our car and shot our car three times.”
Harvard said he was outside of his car when Joseph pointed a gun at him and began shooting.
No injuries were reported.
According to BSO, Joseph grabbed two small children by the hand and ran away from the scene. Deputies later located and apprehended him.
Deputies closed off a portion of the road near a Wendy’s restaurant while they conducted their investigation. It has since reopened to traffic.
As for Harvard, he said he’s just lucky to be alive.
“Yeah, thank God,” he said.
Joseph was taken to the hospital for a medical evaluation and has since been released to the Broward County Jail.
Child protective services are now also investigating after the kids were turned over to state social workers.
As of Friday night, Joseph remained behind bars and was charged as a convicted felon for aggravated assault and child neglect.
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