The Boynton Beach Police Department announced today that 54-year-old William Dabbs was charged with first-degree murder, nearly two weeks after his boss was found dead in a Home Depot parking lot.
According to a police report, the cops responded to a call about a man sitting in his car parked in a lot outside of a Boynton Beach Home Depot who'd just been shot in the head on the morning of October 26.
When police arrived, the man -- later identified as 41-year-old Lawrence Modena -- was still sitting in the driver's seat of his car, with one gunshot wound to the head and several to his torso.
Police say five spent .380-caliber casings were found in and around the car.
Somebody reported seeing a white work van pull out of the parking lot at a high rate of speed after the shooting, and police spotted a vehicle matching the description a few minutes later.
That's when the police chase started on I-95, as cops say the van was traveling at more than 100 mph before it hit another car and eventually exited the highway.
Cops blocked Federal Highway, and the van came to a stop. While stopped, the driver -- eventually identified as Dabbs -- was seen putting a gun to his head, then putting the gun back on his lap.
A police detective told Dabbs to comply with his orders, to which Dabbs responded by pointing the gun at the detective, the report states.
The detective shot at Dabbs three times -- hitting him at least once -- before Dabbs was pulled from the van and arrested, according to police.
After finding the .380-caliber semi-automatic handgun, police asked Dabbs what happened.
He said he had just left Home Depot after having an argument with "a dude," and when police asked him whether he happened to shoot this "dude," Dabbs said he no longer wished to speak with the cops, according to the report.
Modena was pronounced dead nearly an hour after the shooting, and the cops started investigating.
Police say they found out that the van Dabbs was driving had been reported stolen, and a surveillance video captured a van matching the description of the one Dabbs was driving exiting the Home Depot parking lot just after the shooting.
The casings at the scene were then found by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office to be a match to Dabbs' .380-caliber handgun, and calls were made between Dabbs and Modena the night before, morning of, and five minutes before someone called police about the shooting.
Modena's wife also told police that her husband wasn't "some dude" to Dabbs but instead that Dabbs was an employee at Modena's construction company, and police said Modena had told his wife he was going to meet Dabbs the morning of the shooting.
Dabbs is also being charged with assault on a police officer and fleeing or eluding police and is being held in the Palm Beach County Jail on $125,000.
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