The suspect in a Friday double-homicide in the parking lot of the 365 Ocean Hotel on State Road A1A in Boca Raton was arrested in Georgia on Saturday, police said. A man and a woman were shot to death at the hotel, 365 N. Ocean Blvd., after an apparent purse snatching, and another man was hospitalized after being shot. The two men who were shot came to the woman's assistance as she struggled to get her purse back from the suspect, when he opened fire and fled in his silver Jaguar, police said. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By John Pacenti
A 30-year-old man is facing murder charges Saturday after he was apprehended in Georgia, accused of killing a man and a woman in an apparent purse-snatching that turned deadly in the parking lot of a Boca Raton extended-stay hotel on State Road A1A.
De’Vante Moss, 30, of Boynton Beach, is awaiting extradition to Palm Beach County Jail, charged with two counts of first-degree murder with a firearm and one count of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm, Boca Raton police said in a statement.
The fatal shootings occurred shortly before 5 p.m. Friday at the 365 Ocean Hotel, across from South Beach Park on A1A.
Police said Moss fled in a silver Jaguar belonging to him. Witnesses described the vehicle, which was also seen in surveillance video at the scene of the shooting. The license plate was put into a nationwide law enforcement database, leading to the arrest by the Laurens County Sheriff's Office in Georgia, police said. Laurens County is about 50 miles southeast of Macon.
"Moments before the shooting, the suspect was seen exiting one of the hotel rooms and running with a purse. A 32-year-old woman, who also exited the same room, ran after the suspect demanding her belongings,” according to the police statement.
Surveillance video shows Moss attempting to get into the driver’s seat of the Jaguar, still struggling with the woman, police said. That is when two men intervened and Moss produced a firearm, shooting the woman and both men before fleeing Boca Raton, police said.
The names of the victims have not been released yet. The male killed was 49 years old. No age was given for the injured male, who has been hospitalized.
The scene Friday afternoon as Boca Raton police investigated the shootings at the 365 Ocean Hotel on State Road A1A. Staff photo
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