An arrest incident yesterday turned into a fatal shooting. It happened in Spring Lake as Highlands County Sheriff’s Deputies went to the Concord Street home of 63-year-old Bradley Frank Begens. According to reports, the fugitive offender had multiple active arrest warrants against him and would not answer the door.
Deputies breached the house and reportedly found Begens hiding in a closet. They deployed a K-9 to make the apprehension, but when Begens reportedly produced a handgun, shots were fired.
Begins died at the scene, and a woman who was with him, identified as 60-year-old Doreen Murphy Turner, was arrested. She’s been charged with felony murder in the second degree and resisting arrest with violence.
No Highlands County Sheriff’s Office personnel, including the K-9, were injured during the incident. The deputies involved in the shooting will be placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
More growth may soon be coming to Avon Park. City council members last night approved on first reading the re-zoning of a 40-acre tract of land off Davis Citrus Road from county medium density to city high density.
The action will allow as many as 16 units per acre on the property near Lake Glenada. Land owner David Wheeler told the council in the short term, it would remain citrus groves, but it might be sold to a developer. He said it was unclear on what kinds of units – from mobile homes to apartments – that might go in on the property.
A second reading and public hearing was not announced.
Alcohol is suspected in two crashes that hurt three people in Polk County. The sheriff’s office announced yesterday that Orlando’s Ashauntie Cox was arrested last week after two crashes. The first happened in Frostproof on US 27 South at US 98 where she reportedly hit a pickup.
Deputies say the 32-year-old then fled the scene at a high rate of speed before crashing into an SUV. In that crash, her car flipped several times, and an eight-year-old and a five-year-old from Orlando were ejected. They’re in critical condition.
A 27-year-old female passenger was also hurt and is in stable condition. Cox is facing charges that include DUI with serious bodily injury, and deputies say more charges are possible.