FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Fort Lauderdale police released audio Thursday of the 911 calls made after a man was shot Wednesday by a tow truck driver.
“I need an ambulance right now! I need an ambulance right now!” an agitated 911 caller told a dispatcher.
Surveillance cameras captured the chaos Wednesday morning in the 100 block of Carolina Avenue.
“It’s heartbreaking,” one neighbor said.
Several hours after the shooting, relatives were seen comforting the victim’s grieving girlfriend inside her apartment.
“Sounded like four shots – pop, pop, pop,” one woman told Local 10 News.
Police said the victim, Clarence King, 38, of Fort Lauderdale was shot and killed on the street after a tow truck driver showed up to re-possess his black Chevy Malibu.
Police said King went outside and got into a confrontation with the tow truck driver, which resulted in the shooting.
“I heard about five or six shots,” one witness said.
“And when I came out, the guy was already on the ground and the tow (truck) driver was just standing over his body on his cellphone,” another witness said.
The 911 caller was short on details and requested an ambulance without providing an address, saying his phone was freezing.
Then, a woman calls.
“I do not have an exact address; my husband keeps trying to call you guys but for whatever reason his phone keeps on freezing,” that caller says. “He’s working. He works in a tow truck.”
Evidence markers on the ground covered bullet casings and crime scene technicians confiscated a gun that was found in the front seat of the tow truck.
Police said the tow truck driver was detained for questioning and is cooperating with the investigation. It’s unclear whether he will face charges.
A friend of King’s told Local 10 News that he leaves behind a young child.
Police said detectives are working with the Broward State Attorney’s office to determine whether charges should be filed.