A shuttle bus that was hijacked after a gunfight at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport was found in Miami-Dade County this weekend, Broward officials say. But deputies still haven’t tracked down the suspect, Leandro Fernandez Sanchez, 33.
On Friday morning, deputies were surveilling a suspected car thief in a parking garage at the Fort Lauderdale airport, according to a Broward Sheriff’s Office update released Tuesday evening. The man fled when deputies approached him. He was quickly found nearby.
That’s when, the BSO update said, the man, who was driving a stolen car, rammed his car into a deputy’s vehicle near the area of 1400 block of Perimeter Road.
At least one deputy fired a gun at the car, according to the BSO update. On Friday, Miami Herald news partner CBS Miami took an aerial image of a Mercedes-Benz sedan riddled with bullet holes on the driver’s-side windshield.
The suspect, again, fled but managed to hijack the Broward County Paratransit TOPS shuttle bus that was located in Miami-Dade, the BSO update said. No passengers were on the bus at the time.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the deputy-involved shooting.
It’s currently unknown if Fernandez Sanchez was hit by gunfire, and deputies advise anyone who spots him to avoid approaching him and instead alert authorities.