MIRAMAR, Fla. – Police identified a suspect Tuesday who they accused of shooting a man while he and another passenger were inside of a car at an apartment complex in Miramar Monday morning.
The shooting happened just before 10 a.m. at the Avalon Miramar complex, located in the 4300 block of Southwest 113th Avenue.
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According to an arrest warrant from the Miramar Police Department, John Paul, 28, of Miami, is facing one count of first-degree attempted murder.
Paul’s arrest report stated that got a gun from his garage, walked across the parking lot and out of the community, and shot at two people who were sitting in a car at the entrance gate.
When police arrived, they found a man who a gunshot wound to his abdomen. He was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital where he underwent surgery and remains in stable condition as of Tuesday morning, the report stated.
Police said an unoccupied white 2006 Chrysler 300 was located in the exit lane of the community facing west and sustained damage from multiple projectiles as well as crash damage from striking a nearby tree after the shooting.
While conducting a search of the area, detectives said an anonymous witness alerted officers that Paul was behind Building 2 of the complex.
While taking Paul into custody, police said he told detectives that he placed the Glock handgun on the second floor of the stairwell, where it was later located by officers inside a holster.
The second person who had been in the car at the time of the shooting told police that he and the man were talking when a woman came up and asked if they were staying in the development. That’s when he saw a man with a gun walking towards them.
Shortly after, the man said he ducked just before hearing gunshots and then jumped out of the passenger window and hid behind a building until the shooting stopped, according to the report.
During questioning, Paul told the officers he felt it was suspicious when he saw the car because the apartment complex is upscale and the vehicle was run down, police said.
Paul said he asked a woman he knows to go up to the car and ask what they were doing there. According to investigators, he then walked up behind the woman and started shooting at the car’s occupants.
Paul told the officers that he had never seen the car or those in it before, but he just felt like they were there to kill him, according to his arrest report.
“When I seen it... I just walked up to the car like, ‘what y’all doing,’ and just start bussin’ at ‘em, like boom boom boom...basically I felt like they was trying to get me, I just got to them before they got to me,” police allege Paul said.
When asked why he felt that way, he stated, “I just know,” adding that he “felt death” all morning, police said.
“Look here, I shot at them, I ain’t gonna lie to you, straight up, I told you I felt like I was gonna die so I shot at them (expletive). Today I’d rather be in jail, I felt like I was gonna die,” Paul told police, according to the report.
Paul’s arrest report stated that he was on felony probation until Oct. 10, 2027, after he was sentenced with a felony battery charge from a separate incident that occurred in Miami-Dade County.
As of Tuesday, Paul is being held without bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Anyone with information was asked to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477