Rumor On Social Media Friday Untrue.
BY: 24/7 CRIME DESK | BocaNewsNow.com
UPDATE: 7 p.m. Friday — Read the update at the end of this report.
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2023 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — Misinformation transmitted by a national police monitoring service led to tense times Friday in and around Boca Raton. The claim: an early morning shooting in Boca Raton resulted in a chase that involved multiple police agencies and extended into Broward County after starting on I-95 near Palmetto Park Road.
The problem: that’s not what happened, but that’s the information that ended up on several social media sites starting this morning and continuing throughout the day.
Here’s what really happened according to multiples sources and police radio transmissions reviewed by BocaNewsNow.com: There was an incident at convenience store in unincorporated Palm Beach County which also uses the Boca Raton address. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office arrived on the scene and immediately pursued two suspects. The specifics of the incident were unclear, but there is no report that anyone was shot.
The pursuit was not high-speed and, based on police radio transmission, was more of a surveillance operation that ended up in Broward County. The exact location: off I-95 and onto SW 10th Street. When it moved into Broward County, BSO joined the operation, and calmly planned a felony traffic stop using a police radio channel that both agencies could share. That stop was completed without incident. Two people were ultimately taken into custody. During the felony stop, dispatchers told other officers and deputies to “hold the air” which means “keep the radio traffic clear” in case the felony stop goes sideways. It didn’t.
It was not immediately clear why the police monitoring service believed this was more than it was — or why so many people believed it was necessary to repost misinformation on social media sites that have no interest in fact-checking.
UPDATE 7 p.m. Friday, November 17, 2023: PBSO issued the following statement to BocanNewsNow.com. It confirms that there was an incident, but nothing involving a shooting in Boca Raton. The actual incident occurred Thursday night. The arrest Friday was the result of surveillance.
“On 11/16/2023, at approximately 5:20 pm, a shooting occurred in the area of the 400 block of S D Street, Lake Worth Beach. The vehicle, a 2018 white Chevy Silverado 2500, was identified as the suspect vehicle. The suspect vehicle was located at the registered owner’s residence. Surveillance was established as a residential search warrant was procured. A 16 year old juvenile was developed as a suspect of the shooting. The vehicle began to go mobile and was covertly surveilled until it came to a stop at 711 Gas Station @ 900 SW 10th Street, Deerfield. A felony traffic stop was conducted along with BSO deputies and two juveniles were taken into custody. Both juveniles were arrested and booked by BSO. SWAT assisted with the execution of the search warrant in which the following items were recovered: black Citadel semi-auto pistol, 60g of Marijuana, spent shell casings, .9mm live rounds, 7.62 live rounds, cellphones, the white Chevy Silverado and clothing used during the crime. This case is still on-going pending further investigative leads.”
