She left a KFC and her ex followed. The convicted felon shot her 1-year-old son, cops say
When a Broward County mother left a KFC restaurant Sunday night, her former boyfriend followed.
What happened next, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, sent the nine-time convicted felon back to jail.
Deputies say Jeffrey Simmons, 36, opened fire on her car as she drove on West Sunrise Boulevard, just east of Northwest 27th Avenue. The woman continued south before coming to a stop in a Marshalls parking lot on West Broward Boulevard.
That’s when the sheriff’s office said Simmons fired two more rounds into her car. Her 1-year-old son was struck.
Simmons — who has a history dating back to the late ’90s of arrests and convictions for crimes including domestic battery and gun charges — was later arrested on charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, missile into a building and possession of weapon or ammo by a convicted felon. He is being held in Broward’s Main Jail with no bond.
According to the Broward Sheriff’s Offfce, it all started Sunday night when a 911 call came in reporting a shooting in the area of 2620 W. Broward Blvd. BSO deputies and Fort Lauderdale police officers arrived to find the injured child. The child, who according to BSO had non life-threatening injuries, was taken to a nearby hospital.
BSO said the child underwent surgery, and it wasn’t clear if there would be long-term effects from the gunshot wound.
Meanwhile, detectives with BSO’s Special Victim’s Unit began piecing together what happened. The sheriff’s office said the woman left the KFC at 3061 W. Sunrise Blvd. with Simmons tailing her in his own car. Once they were in the parking lot, Simmons got out, opened fire and took off.
The BSO Violent Intervention Proactive Enforcement Response (V.I.P.E.R.) Unit, BSO Special Victims Unit, K9, aviation and the Fort Lauderdale Police Department’s Rapid Offender Control (ROC) Unit coordinated efforts and took Simmons into custody around 1 a.m. Wednesday.
Simmons has a long history of being in and out of jail.
Most recently, he was arrested in May on a warrant stemming from a December 2019 incident during which BSO said he grabbed his ex-girlfriend around her throat and stole her phone. He also violated a restraining order, records show.
He was released on bond while the case was pending. It was not clear if the same women was involved in both incidents.
This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 1:09 PM.
