FORT LAUDERDALE — A 31-year-old man is facing attempted felony murder charges after allegedly shooting at officers while barricaded inside a Fort Lauderdale home, creating a standoff with over 50 officers that lasted nearly four hours, police said.
Officers were initially called to a domestic dispute among several family members at a home in the 2200 block of Southwest 28th Way near Riverland Road about 3 p.m., Fort Lauderdale Police said in a news release Tuesday afternoon. As officers arrived, Joseph Criscione, 31, locked himself inside the home, armed with a gun.
Criscione shot at officers out of a window from the home’s second story, and one officer shot back, Casey Liening, a police department spokesperson, said in the release. No one was injured in the shooting.
Fort Lauderdale’s SWAT team and crisis negotiators tried for hours to talk to Criscione, but he did not respond to the efforts, Liening said. Shortly before 8 p.m., Criscione tried to “discreetly exit” the home, but SWAT operators saw him with night-vision goggles and took him into custody.
He was held in the Main Jail as of late Tuesday afternoon. Liening said he was charged with three counts of attempted murder on a law enforcement officer, felony battery on a person 65 years or older, and resisting without violence.
One woman was injured in the initial domestic dispute. She was released from the hospital by Monday evening and is expected to recover, Liening said.
Fort Lauderdale Police released several 911 calls made by the same man Monday, in which the caller alleged that his brother had attempted to sexually assault his wife. Liening said detectives determined the caller’s wife was not assaulted, and the woman who was injured and taken to the hospital was a different woman.
Further details about the domestic dispute were not released Tuesday.
“It was a peaceful ending tonight, and we’re happy about that,” Liening told reporters at the scene shortly after Criscione was arrested on Monday.
A few FBI agents in camouflage uniforms with guns in hand exited the street on foot about 8:30 p.m. and an armored SWAT vehicle was loaded onto a tow truck as authorities cleared the scene. Schools in the area were locked down and residents were urged to stay inside as SWAT officers responded. Some residents were unable to get to their homes during the standoff.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Sgt. Tarek Bazzi at 954-828-5512 or Detective Leann Swisher at 954-828-4007.
