COCONUT CREEK, Fla. – Levon Lopez appeared in Broward County court on Wednesday to face a murder charge even though he didn’t shoot and kill Brittni Muldrew. Coconut Creek police officers did.
Prosecutors argue Lopez, 49, who was born in New York and lived in Boca Raton, contributed to causing the situation that led to the shooting shortly before 8:25 p.m., on Monday in the city of Coconut Creek.
Muldrew, 36, was driving a white Mercedes-Benz that was reported stolen out of a gas station in Parkland, police said. She was speeding westbound on Hillsborough Boulevard and Lopez was a passenger, police said.
Three officers and a police canine were injured while trying to arrest Muldrew and Lopez. When Muldrew reversed the car in the direction of police officers, two of the officers fired their weapons, wounding Muldrew near Lyons Road, police said.
Officers performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Muldrew. A doctor later pronounced her dead. The two officers who fired their weapons remain on administrative leave. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting.
Officers arrested Lopez, who wasn’t injured during the shooting, and he faces charges in the Broward County capital homicide case assigned to Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer at the Central Courthouse. Lopez appeared in front of Broward Circuit Judge Tabitha Blackmon to face a charge of murder while engaged in a certain felony offense.
In Florida, when someone dies during the commission of a felony, prosecutors can file a murder charge against the person who committed or attempted to commit the felony.
Lopez is also facing a grand theft auto charge, but his attorney told Blackmon that Lopez didn’t know the car was stolen and all of the charges need to be dropped. Blackmon didn’t buy it and denied him bond.
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