BSO deputy shot a suspect dead near headquarters after sting operation blows up
A Thursday drug bust turned into a chase on car and foot before ending with a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy shooting a man about a block from BSO headquarters. The man died later.
That’s according to Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony, who said he heard the shooting from his office at 2601 W. Broward Blvd., on the border of Fort Lauderdale and unincorporated Broward County.
Around 11:45 a.m., several divisions of the sheriff’s office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were trying to arrest Zy Shonne Johnson, 23, in a parking lot near the intersection of Broward Boulevard and Northwest 27th Avenue, the sheriff’s office said.
A sting operation was underway as Johnson thought he was meeting someone to get drugs, but investigators had a warrant for Johnson’s arrest for narcotics charges.
Tony called this a “buy/bust” exchange — either a confidential informant or undercover officer buys drugs from a dealer, who eventually gets busted on drug trafficking charges.
When detectives moved in to arrest Johnson, he ran to the Infiniti sedan he was driving. He crashed into multiple cars before his car stopped at the Broward Boulevard entrance to the Sheriff’s Office Public Safety Building.
Tony said he was “creating all types of hazards and harms to this community.”
Johnson got out of the car and started running.
When investigators told him to surrender, Johnson turned toward them armed with a handgun. Two SWAT team members shot and hit him, the sheriff’s office said.
No one else was injured.
Johnson died after BSO Fire Rescue transported him to Broward Health with a gunshot wound to his chest.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is leading an investigation into what happened, as is standard. And per BSO policy, the two SWAT team deputies who shot Johnson were placed on administrative assignment pending further investigation.
In the shooting’s aftermath, Broward Boulevard was closed west of Northwest 27th Avenue for about four and a half hours. It reopened just as the afternoon rush hour began.
This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 12:49 PM.
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