Florida Friday: Police credit sharks for ending standoff with stabbing suspect

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: man meets woman. Man dates woman. Woman dumps man. Man stabs woman and her new man, then flees into waist deep water holding a knife to his chest during a four-hour stand-off with police. Man becomes concerned about sharks, man finally surrenders to police. It’s a Florida story as old as time, and it recently happened again in Palm Beach.

A standoff between local police and a suspect involved in a stabbing ended peacefully Monday afternoon after hours of negotiation.
Paul Charles, who is a suspect in a double stabbing Monday in Boca Raton, surrendered to police around 5:15 p.m. after throwing down his knife and lying on the ground to be handcuffed.
Officer Sandra Boonenberg, spokeswoman for the Boca Raton Police Department, said Charles is believed to have stabbed his ex-girlfriend at her residence just after noon in the 5300 block of Northwest Fifth Avenue in Boca Raton. Charles is in his mid-20s, she said.
According to police, Charles’ ex-girlfriend and new boyfriend were transported to the Delray Medical Center with life-threatening stab wounds to the chest.
Palm Beach Police received a medical call around 1:30 p.m. that a man was bleeding on the beach. Witness Joe Cirilano said Charles approached him on the beach with blood on his shirt and told him to call police. [PalmBeachDailyNews]

“He’s got a knife in his hand,” Palm Beach Police spokesman Fred Hess said. “He’s holding it up to his chest right now.”
For almost four hours, the man refused to put the knife down. He spent half of that time standing knee-deep in the ocean, which authorities said was very cold.
Police said what may have finally made the suspect surrender were the sharks swimming behind him.
“As he moved around, he gained their attention,” Weber said. “They never got close enough, but we actually used that as a tactic as well.” [WPBF]

Police spokesman Weber went onto say, “All credit for ending this stand off peacefully goes to solid police work. Good, solid, by-the-book policing, and of course, sharks.”

By the way, I’ll be using all of this as research for the CBS pilot I’m currently writing, Shark Cop, about a brash young lieutenant who’s cleaning up the town with the help of an all-cartilage skeleton and his interracial buddy partner, Remorah Joe.

SHARK COP: We got him, Chief! I think it’ll be a long time before another drug lord tries to swim in these waters.

POLICE CHIEF MCKINLEY: DAMMIT, SHARK COP! YOU WRECKED THREE COP CARS AND THE WHOLE TOWN’S COVERED IN FISH BLOOD!

…In any case, our prayers are with the victims.

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