DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. — A man has died after he was shot in Deerfield Beach by a woman who is known to him, authorities confirmed.
According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the shooting was reported just before 10:15 p.m. Wednesday in the 200 block of Southwest First Terrace.
Deputies said they responded to the scene and discovered that a man, later identified as Maurice Wright Jr., 31, had been shot inside an apartment.
He was pronounced dead at the scene by Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue medics.
After Wednesday night’s shooting, Wright’s family members broke down in tears at the crime scene when detectives told them he had died.
According to deputies, the woman who shot Wright was detained for questioning and claimed that she shot him in self-defense while protecting herself from a physical attack.
Detectives said the woman, whose identity has not been released, was released after being questioned.
The woman’s neighbor, Marcelle Thomas, said the woman had been through a difficult relationship with Wright.
Thomas said she had heard Wright was abusive toward the woman and her children.
“What I heard is that the dude was abusing her, abusing the 4-year-old and tried to abuse the 11-year-old,” Thomas said.
According to Thomas, the woman was Wright’s ex, but he found out where she lived.
He said neighbors would hear them fighting inside her apartment.
“So she had to do what she had to to defend her and her daughter, and she did that,” Thomas said.
A maintenance worker at the apartment building told Local 10 that the woman is a “nice girl.”
Thomas said Wright had previously been jailed in connection with the killing of his father.
Local 10 covered that incident in 2022, when Miami-Dade County sheriff’s deputies used an explosive tactical breach to take Wright into custody at a motel.
Wright was accused of killing his father with an assault rifle and was charged with second-degree murder.
After detectives complete their investigation into Wednesday’s shooting, they will present the case to the Broward County State Attorney’s Office for review.
Detectives have not said what led up to the alleged physical attack that preceded the shooting.
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