Bedsheets cover the monument signs for the 365 Ocean boutique extended-stay hotel on State Road A1A in Boca Raton on Sept. 23, three days after gunfire in the hotel's parking lot killed two people from Oakland Park and hospitalized a third shooting victim. Police think the shooter and victims may have known each other. The hotel is at 365 N. Ocean Blvd., several blocks north of Palmetto Park Road. Staff photos/The Coastal Star
By Larry Barszewski
The shooter and victims in a Sept. 20 double-homicide at a Boca Raton beach hotel may have known each other, police said Monday, adding that the assailant and at least two of the three victims were not from the city.
Mayor Scott Singer and Police Chief Michele Miuccio gave a mid-day briefing Sept. 23 on the status of the investigation, where they stressed that the altercation at the 365 Ocean extended-stay hotel across from South Beach Park was “an isolated incident” and that the city was a safe place to be.
The hotel is at 365 N. Ocean Blvd., several blocks north of Palmetto Park Road on State Road A1A.
Miuccio provided more details about the incident, saying the suspect fatally shot a man and a woman at close range, shot another man who had intervened and then followed that man as he tried to crawl away, shooting him again.
The suspect, identified by police as De'Vante Moss, took off in his Jaguar and fled to Georgia, where he was pulled over and taken into custody barely 12 hours later.
Police identified the deceased as Christopher Liszak, 49, and Chandler Dill, 32, both of Oakland Park. Police did not release the identity of the surviving male victim because he is a witness.
Moss, 30, of Boynton Beach, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder with a firearm and one count of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm. Miuccio said more charges may be filed in the case.
Miuccio was able to give a detailed account of the incident — reported to police at 4:53 p.m. — because it was captured on surveillance video and confirmed by witnesses, police said. The video also allowed police to get the Jaguar’s tag number and confirm Moss’s identity.
The scene Sept. 20 as police investigated the shootings at 365 Ocean.
Miuccio’s statement begins with Moss and Dill in her room at the hotel.
“It appears they had an argument and Moss fled the room carrying the victim’s purse,” Miuccio said. “[Dill] ran after him and yelled at him, give her purse back. She argued with him by the silver, four-door Jaguar and tried pulling her purse out of his arms.”
That’s when the man who survived came over and joined in the argument, the chief said. Moss then got out of the driver’s seat and got something out of the backseat, while the man ran to a truck and removed a small bag, she said.
At this point, Liszak had exited his room at the hotel and gone over, apparently to intervene, the chief said. “The male victim returned from the truck, opened the passenger side door of the Jaguar, and, after seeing Moss, quickly moved and took cover towards the rear of the vehicle,” she said.
It’s then that Moss “exited the vehicle, raised a pistol and shot [Dill] and Liszak at close range,” Miuccio said. He then “turned the pistol towards the male victim, who was by the passenger door, fired and shot him.”
The man began crawling toward the hotel and Moss ran after him, Miuccio said. “The male raised his empty hands up over his head and Moss shot him in the abdomen area.”
Police got a search warrant for Moss’s Boynton Beach residence, where his fiancé said “at 5:30 p.m. he had returned home, packed a bag, and said he was headed for Jacksonville for work,” the chief said.
Police were able to determine that Moss was heading for Georgia and alerted the Georgia State Patrol. A Laurens County deputy spotted the Jaguar around 5:20 a.m. Sept. 21, conducted a traffic stop and took Moss into custody without incident.
While she said it’s unknown what the relationship is among those involved in the incident, it appears they weren’t strangers.
“We can’t definitively say they were all friends, but it does appear that they did know each other and it wasn’t random that they were just somebody that was walking by that stepped in.”
Mayor Singer complimented the Police Department for its investigation and quick actions to identify, locate and have the suspect taken into custody.
“The crime was shocking because homicide is so rare” in the city, Singer said. “Let this atypical event be a clear reminder Boca Raton does not tolerate crime.”
Miuccio said crime is decreasing in the city.
“This is an isolated incident,” she said. “We’re fortunate to be in a city with a low incidence of crime. There’s been a continued decrease in violent crime in the last five years.”
Mary Hladky contributed to this story.
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