LAKE WORTH, Fla. (WSVN) – A deputy-involved shooting and multi-vehicle crash closed a section of Interstate 95 in Palm Beach County for several hours Wednesday.
Both directions of I-95 at Lantana Road in Lantana were closed due to the deadly chain of events. The southbound lanes reopened just before 12 p.m., and the northbound lanes reopened just after 4:15 p.m.
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue said between six to eight vehicles were involved in the crash.
Yolanda Oliver said she was driving to work when a car began crashing into others around her. “Multiple cars involved, scattered all over 95,” she said.
Moments later, she saw four armed deputies in tactical gear from her vehicle, took out her smartphone and hit record.
“Everybody back up! Hey, back up!” a deputy is heard saying in the video she recorded.
“Everybody starts running toward where the black car was,” said Oliver.
Inside that car, officials said, was Hugo Selva, who had allegedly killed a woman identified as Nicole Novak a short time earlier in the parking lot of My Neighborhood Grocery store, located about a mile away, in a Lake Worth shopping plaza.
According to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, deputies received a call at 9:30 a.m. regarding that shooting.
A store clerk told 7News she saw Selva and Novak inside the store twice to use the ATM and buy cigarettes.
“It looked like they seemed to be friends,” said the clerk.
When the two went outside, the clerk said, she heard a shot.
“I saw the lady was lying down in front of the store,” she said.
That’s when, witnesses told police, Selva lifted Novak’s body into the car, dropping a handgun on the ground and then took off toward I-95.
About 15 minutes after the shooting, deputies began receiving calls about a car driving southbound in the northbound lanes of I-95, causing at least three head-on accidents.
“Cars were running off the road, and so accidents were occurring,” Bradshaw said.
Three drivers were injured in the accidents. Their injuries were not life-threatening.
7Skyforce HD hovered above the chaotic scene as skid marks on the road marked the spots where drivers tried to swerve out of the gunman’s path.
Bradshaw said a Florida Highway Patrol trooper and a PBSO deputy responded to the scene just as the third accident occurred. It was then that, officials said, deputies were able to surround Selva.
“They could see a white male inside. The FHP trooper attempted to deploy his Taser on the individual. It did not work,” said Bradshaw.
“‘[The deputies said] ‘Don’t move, don’t move! I’ll shoot you right now!'” said Oliver. “And they just wait for any kind of movement.”
Bradshaw said the PBSO deputy, fearing for his life, opened fire on Selva, killing him.
Bradshaw also told reporters that Selva was responsible for two prior shootings. Tuesday night, Selva reportedly shot and injured a woman at a West Palm Beach motel. Early Wednesday morning, he shot another person at a home in Boynton Beach.
“We have averted this guy, not only crashing into a whole bunch more cars, on this side of the road, but escaping here and going on to do whatever he was going to do,” said Bradshaw.
“It makes you thank God that you weren’t involved,” said Oliver, “and you can only hope that people stay calm.”
Police said the gun Selva used to shoot Novak in the head was recovered in the parking lot of the grocery store.
Police have not said what the relationship was between Selva and Novak is or the motive behind the shooting.
The lane closures happened hours after an unrelated shooting in Boca Raton shut down the southbound lanes of I-95 between Linton Boulevard to Yamato Road for several hours. Those lanes later reopened.
FDLE is now investigating the deputy-involved shooting.
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