By Trenton Daniel
The Miami Herald
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Shawn LaBeet had been wanted in Broward County for five years -- on felony charges stemming from a fight over drugs in which his girlfriend was shot in the thigh.
That girlfriend, Renee D’Angelo, was arrested Friday, accused of aiding LaBeet after a shootout with Miami-Dade police that killed an officer and wounded three others. LaBeet was shot dead by police late Thursday night in Pembroke Pines.
A warrant for LaBeet’s arrest had been outstanding since 2002, when the Broward Sheriff’s Office charged him with aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated assault with a firearm.
A BSO incident report and an arrest warrant give this account of what happened:
On April 1, 2002, LaBeet, then 20, angrily confronted a man named Robert Fanning after learning that his marijuana was missing from his North Lauderdale home.
LaBeet retrieved a shotgun and aimed it at Fanning’s chest, demanding to know the whereabouts of his drugs. LaBeet also pointed the weapon at his girlfriend’s cousin, William Speier.
Speier grabbed the barrel of the gun and wrestled with LaBeet over it.
The gun fired twice, striking D’Angelo in the left thigh area.
D’Angelo told police she didn’t want to prosecute.
Charges were filed against LaBeet anyway. But he was never arrested.
BSO spokeswoman Keyla Concepción couldn’t say for certain why LaBeet hadn’t been picked up, but she said he could’ve been hiding from deputies.
''We’re always doing warrant sweeps,’' she said. ``There are a lot of sweeps that are done on a mass scale.’'
At the time, LaBeet and his girlfriend had lived together for four months and they had an 18-month-old child. LaBeet worked for a cellphone company, VoiceStream Wireless.
A ''wanted persons’’ form marked LaBeet as “considered dangerous.’'
Copyright 2007 The Miami Herald