TITUSVILLE, Fla. – A Titusville man arrested Wednesday after threatening a woman at gunpoint in her home intended to kill her and three other people in an effort to regain custody of his estranged children, among new details shared Friday by Brevard County law enforcement officials.
According to Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey, Titusville police Chief John Lau and a probable cause affidavit filed Friday by Titusville police, 52-year-old Dax Rodriguez broke into the woman’s Willis Drive home Wednesday afternoon after she had attempted to break up with him via SMS while she was at work.
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Returning home around 3 p.m., the woman arrived to find Rodriguez armed with a Sig Sauer pistol he had taken from a night stand. The property itself belonged to the woman’s sister and brother-in-law, and the victim recounted she was told to help tie up her brother-in-law and kill him once he was home, the affidavit states.
Rodriguez had since taken the woman’s phone away from her, but she managed to grab it and run down the street screaming for help, according to the affidavit. She was soon caught and brought back to the home after Rodriguez ran after her, reportedly promising he would give her the gun and leave. Before Rodriguez took the woman’s phone away again, she was able to text her sister “Don’t come home,” the affidavit states.
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Once back at the home, Rodriguez placed an empty holster on a counter instead of the gun, police said. The woman reportedly got away a second time while Rodriguez was distracted in the garage, running to a neighbor’s house to call 911 with Rodriguez in pursuit soon after. He cut a screen to enter the neighbor’s porch, but was unable to get past a locked back door, the affidavit states.
Rodriguez then left the area, attempting to remove his ankle monitor in the process with a pair of loppers, police said. Authorities tracking his location tied him to an armed carjacking that was called in around 4:30 p.m. in the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office’s jurisdiction, where he stole an SUV at gunpoint and, upon being located by law enforcement, fled with it at speeds above 100 mph along South Carpenter Road, Interstate 95 and State Road 50, police said.
Though he avoided two stop stick deployments, a PIT maneuver brought Rodriguez and the stolen SUV to a stop in Orange County while he traveled west on SR-50 toward Christmas, Ivey said at a news conference Friday.
“Rodriguez was taken out at gunpoint. He was initially resistant, was not going to be taken out. In fact, as our agents and deputies and officers would learn, he was actually sitting on the gun with both of his hands underneath him and was not coming out,” Ivey said.
According to Ivey, both agencies determined through an investigation that Rodriguez intended to kill the woman, her sister, her brother-in-law and his ex wife. The ex wife lives in Seminole County with Rodriguez’s children, who he planned to take along despite a relevant and active restraining order against him, Ivey claimed.
“Everything in this investigation tells us that he was going to carry out his mission of killing these four people. His intent was definitely there, his actions were there, and to further his actions, he actually on his phone had GPS coordinates of where his ex wife was in Seminole County so that he could immediately go there, take his victim with him to help in tying her up ... secure her and kill her as well,” Ivey said.
Rodriguez faces charges of robbery with a firearm, grand theft of a motor vehicle, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, fleeing with disregard to the safety of persons or property, petit theft between $100-$750, armed burglary of a conveyance, kidnapping, violation of probation, fleeing/eluding law enforcement at high speed, criminal mischief incurring costs between $200-$1,000, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, tampering with a witness or victim and grand theft of a firearm from a building, records show.
He was being held on no bond amount in Brevard County at last check.
See the news conference in the video player below:
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