A Sheriff's Office spokesman said the shooting took place after a van transporting several prisoners was inside a closed gated area just a block from the county courthouse. Investigators were unsure how many shots were fired, said spokesman Joel Cameron, and officials would not speculate on a motive for the killing.
"The shooting piece is in," he called over his shoulder to the online editor when he finished. It had taken him eight minutes. A lot of nothing, he thought. But it'll hold them off for a while.
He took a long sip of coffee and then called up his e-mail message inbox and started at the real work.
Lori had sent him several files and he opened up the one titled YOURFERRIS, figuring it to be the story he had written on Steven Ferris just four years ago.
THE PREDATORS AMONG US
By Nick Mullins, Staff Writer They walked hand in hand on the street, two little girls, one in green-and-white sneakers, the other in pink shorts, sisters strolling home after school.
When they were stopped by a soft voice, it didn't startle them-it was familiar. When they turned to the big doughy man with the kind smile, they felt no fear-they knew him. When he invited them into his green pickup, they didn't panic-they'd been in his truck before.
In the full sunlight of a warm afternoon, two little girls looked into the face of evil, and didn't recognize it.
The public now knows the face of Howard Steven Ferris, 30, who police say confessed to the abductions and killings of Marcellina Cotton, 6, and her sister Gabriella, 8.
We know their bodies were found in the attic of Ferris's Fort Lauderdale apartment. We know, according to his confession, that his sole motivation was to sexually assault them.