Sheriff’s office announces arrest of serial shooter who took aim at homes in Ocean Ridge, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and elsewhere
The Glock 9mm handgun that officials say was used in 16 separate shooting incidents around Palm Beach County in recent months. Photo provided
By Rich Pollack and Larry Barszewski
Smart detective work by the Ocean Ridge Police Department helped lead to the arrest Thursday of a man described as a serial shooter who is charged with firing bullets into 16 residences and businesses throughout the county in a spree that began in February.
While some of the homes 29-year-old Sterling Maloney is accused of shooting up were occupied at the time, there were no reported injuries.
“We’re very lucky that no one was hit, killed or injured with these shootings,” said Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Col. Talal Masri, who said that Maloney kept a ledger detailing the locations he shot up and a list of 10 more places he was planning to target.
“This arrest today potentially saved lives even though we were lucky no one got hurt," Masri said. "We don’t know what was going to happen the next time.”
PBSO had not previously reported that police were investigating such a string of shootings involving the same handgun.
Sheriff’s investigators began looking into the shootings more than five months ago after buildings in Royal Palm Beach were struck by bullets. There were more shootings in the months that followed, including six in Delray Beach and four in Boynton Beach.
One of those shootings in Boynton Beach in May occurred at a home where four people, including children, were sleeping. Delray Beach police said that at least one of the homes struck by bullets in their city was occupied at the time of the shooting.
Most, if not all of the shootings, appeared to occur in the early morning hours before daylight.
A case in Ocean Ridge
PBSO and the other police agencies had used a central database and found the shell casings in all the shootings matched and appeared to come from the same Glock 9mm handgun. Who was firing that gun remained a mystery until the shooter took aim at a vacant home in Ocean Ridge in the early morning hours of July 11.
“They had so many shootings, but they didn’t know who was doing it,” Ocean Ridge Police Chief Scott McClure said.
In Ocean Ridge that morning, at least a dozen shots were fired at an unoccupied home on Thompson Street. One of the bullets went through a window.
Ocean Ridge Police Sgt. Keith Ramirez investigates the scene July 15 outside a home near Thompson Street and Old Ocean Boulevard where the shooting took place days earlier. The orange cones mark the location of three of the bullet casings found on Thompson. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
The shooting wasn't noticed until four days later when a passerby saw bullet holes and contacted a police officer who was in the area on another call, McClure said.
McClure said that through the use of technology, including license plate recognition cameras, static cameras and video taken from home-security cameras in the area, his officers were able to identify a vehicle they suspected was involved.
Ocean Ridge police put out an alert July 17 to all the police departments in the area to be on the lookout for the vehicle. Six hours later that same day, Boynton Beach police officers pulled over the vehicle, a blue Hyundai Sonata driven by Sterling Maloney.
McClure said Ocean Ridge police were called to the scene and met with Maloney.
“Our detectives interviewed Sterling the day of the traffic stop,” McClure said, adding that Maloney was released for lack of probable cause to hold him.
But the car was impounded because of its tie to the Ocean Ridge shooting, and after obtaining a warrant, investigators found the gun — later linked to multiple shootings of businesses and homes — ammunition and the ledger with past targets and a list of potential targets.
“It was good on our part that we got these breaks to stop them in their tracks,” McClure said. “They’d been looking for him since February.”
McClure said the investigation in Ocean Ridge was a team effort.
“Everybody had a hand in this,” he said. “It’s good detective work and I’m proud of them.”
Masri, of the sheriff’s office, said that Maloney was surprised when he was arrested Thursday morning.
A diagram provided by police points out the timeline and location for the various shootings being investigated. The diagram indicates there was also a shooting in Broward County. Diagram provided
He said that sheriff’s detectives, who took the lead in building the case against Maloney, are now looking to determine a motive and are following up to see if there are any commonalities connecting all of the victims.
Maloney is being held without bond at the Palm Beach County Jail on a dozen charges of firing a missile into a dwelling. He is also charged with two counts each of discharging a firearm from a vehicle and criminal mischief damage to property.
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