HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Concerns over a suspicious orange cable in Broward County left a father dead, a grandmother injured, and a boy who witnessed the tragedy grieving.
Jackie Davis said on Monday that a “coward” who was armed with a shotgun is to blame. She said her mother’s neighbor killed her brother Sao Charmant and wounded her mother.
Davis said she is worried about her nephew who called her distraught after the Sunday shooting in Hollywood to say, “Aunty! Aunty! Aunty! They killed my Daddy!”
Davis said she still doesn’t understand why her mother’s neighbor chose to shoot instead of having a conversation, arguing, or calling the police.
On Sunday afternoon, Davis’ mother came back home from church to find her back gate was open. Davis said her mother was afraid when she saw a suspicious orange cable trailing from her backyard and into the neighbor’s property.
Davis said her mother asked Charmant for help. Charmant drove to his mother’s home, parked the car, and he asked his son to stay in the car. He knocked on the neighbor’s door repeatedly, but no one answered.
“He told them that you know, ‘Come outside! We need to talk! What’s going on? So he started knocking on the window, knocking on the window,” Davis said.
“When he started knocking on the window, they still didn’t come, so my mom told my brother, ‘Don’t worry about it. Leave it alone. Let’s go and let’s call the police.’”
That’s when the neighbor cracked open the door, Davis said, adding he didn’t say a word. The man aimed at Charmant and his mother and shot them both in the stomach, Davis said.
“My mom automatically was telling the guy, ‘Stop shooting! Stop shooting! That’s my son! That’s my son! What are you doing?’ And she got on top of him, put compression to his stomach, and kept saying ‘Wake up! Wake up! Stay with me! Stay with me! Just fight! Fight! Fight!’”
Charmant died during surgery. Davis said the shooter could have easily also killed her mother and nephew. The Hollywood Police Department is still investigating the case, and as of Monday night had yet to release information to the public on the shooting that frightened the neighborhood.