Mother, Teen Daughter Found Dead After Suspect Surrenders To SWAT Team
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SUNRISE (CBSMiami) – The bodies of a 40-year-old woman and her 15-year-old daughter were found inside a Sunrise home where a man kept SWAT teams at bay for several hours on Monday.
Police confirmed that the bodies of an adult female and juvenile female were found inside the home where 32-year-old Kevin Nelson was taken into custody.
"Holy (expletive). They are driving through the (expletive) building. These (expletive) are not playing. They just drove through the fence and everything," yelled a person in home video of the takedown.
Sunrise police were first called the Del Rio Village apartment complex around noon to investigate reports of gunfire.
When officers arrived, they called the apartment and a man inside answered and said, "Yeah, I'm here," hung up and refused to come out.
Fearing the man inside may be armed, a SWAT team was called in as police attempted to get the man to surrender.
As time went on and Nelson refused to come out, the SWAT team first knocked down a tree in front of the building, then it was the fence that went down followed by the front door. Once the door was down, a robot went in followed by SWAT team members.
Nelson eventually made his way out of the home after more than three hours and surrendered. That's when police found the two bodies.
"I can confirm that there is two deceased inside, adult female and a juvenile female," state Michelle Eddy from the Sunrise Police Department.
Late Monday night, the family of the teen killed arrived at the crime scene.
Courtney Smith said the 15-year-old victim is his granddaughter, Shanice Smith.
"She didn't deserve this," Smith said. "You hear these things but when it hits home, it's totally different."
Smith is left wondering why these two lives – including that of a teen who was an "A" student in high school and had her whole life ahead of her – could be taken in such a way.
"She had a real bright future and then this tragedy happened," Smith said.
Several neighbors told CBS4 News that this was a troubled couple – often arguing in public outside their home and cops being called to the home numerous times for domestic complaints over the past year or so.
The Del Rio Village is located on University Drive just north of Oakland Park Boulevard.
A neighbor said everything began with a loud noise.
"I heard like a loud crash. I'm not really sure what it was. I didn't think much about it. Everything was still and then like 10 minutes later there were 20 cops out front," explained neighbor Michael Plesak.
Sean Grasmick lives next door. He's legally blind but went outside during all the commotion.
"When I walked out my door they probably thought that I was the person, they told me to lay right down and they put me in handcuffs and they figured out it wasn't me," said Grasmick.
CBS4's Carey Codd learned of the extraordinary request made of a neighbor, Bernard Lee, by a police sharpshooter as the situation developed.
"He knocked on my door," Lee said. "He said I'm looking for elevation. Is it alright if I use your upstairs window in case I have to take a shot?"
That shot never happened, but Lee said wanted to do what he could to help.
Other residents said they were terrified by the heavy police presence.
Rochelle Thomas said she sat locked down in her house for hours, but knows that the minor disruption she dealt with is nothing compared to the grief felt by the families of the victims.
"I just feel the pain of that Mommy who lost her daughter and granddaughter," Thomas said.