Man crashed into ex’s car before shooting her, Coral Springs police say
.jpg "A Tamarac man is accused of crashing his van into his estranged romantic partner’s car before shooting her behind a Coral Springs shopping center on Thursday, April 16, 2026.")
A Tamarac man deliberately crashed his work van into his estranged romantic partner’s vehicle behind a Coral Springs shopping center before shooting her several times Thursday afternoon, police say.
The woman survived and told police the gunman’s name. Detectives also watched security-camera footage and spoke to witnesses who corroborated her account.
Abdul Baith Perez, 49, is in the Broward County Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale on a charge of attempted premeditated murder.
READ MORE: Coral Springs shooting near shopping center was ‘domestic related,’ police say
Police said Perez was driving a Nissan NV1500 van assigned to him by his employer, the landscaping company DynaServ, when he crashed into a Lexus RX350 sedan driven by the woman behind the Design Row shopping plaza at 7663 West Sample Road around 3 p.m.
The Miami Herald is not naming the woman because she is a possible victim of domestic violence.
The collision was so hard that it caused the airbags of the Lexus to deploy and pinned the car to a building in the shopping plaza, according to Perez’s arrest affidavit.
Perez then got out of his van and tried to open the woman’s driver’s side door, but he couldn’t because of damage from the crash, the report states. He then pulled out a semiautomatic handgun and shot her several times, striking her in the face, chest, shoulders and abdomen, police said.
Coral Springs detectives were the first to arrive and provided medical attention to the woman, according to the report. Coral Springs Fire Department paramedics took her to Broward Health North. Sgt. James Kaban, a police spokesman, said the woman was in stable condition Friday.
Perez left the van behind the shopping center, ran away and jumped into a canal to hide, police said. Officers found him with wet clothes and boots about a half a mile from the shooting scene on the 7600 block of Sanctuary Drive and arrested him, according to the report.
He denied not only shooting the woman but also knowing her, according to the report. Police say the woman and her two children moved into his home in September and moved out this month.
Detectives called Perez’s DynaServ supervisor, who confirmed the Nissan van was a company vehicle assigned to Perez that day. He was supposed to be doing a job in Stuart in Martin County, according to the report. Detectives found Perez’s wallet and driver’s license in the van, the report states.
On Friday, Perez was being held without bond on the attempted-murder charge. He is also accused of aggravated battery and possession of a firearm or ammunition while being the subject of an injunction and tampering with evidence.
According to his arrest report, a judge issued a “non-expiring” domestic-violence injunction that prohibits Perez from possessing a gun or ammunition.
Information about Perez’s legal representation was not immediately available.
