OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez announced the arrests of a teen and a man more than a month after a deadly road rage shooting.
Prior to a news briefing at the sheriff’s office Thursday, Lopez walked Brandon Singh, 20, in cuffs to an awaiting cruiser. Singh said nothing to the media as he walked.
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Lopez said Singh was the gunman in the deadly shooting on Oct. 23.
“When interviewed Singh admitted to the shooting, but said it was all self-defense,” Lopez said. “However, there was absolutely no evidence that indicates this was anything but a cold-blooded murder.”
According to the sheriff, Singh was a passenger in a Subaru Impreza driven by Brandon Quartieri, 17, on Oct. 23 when the pair was cut off by a silver 2011 Dodge Charger in the area of South Florida Parkway and Poinsettia Drive, forcing the pair off the road in order to avoid a collision.
The sheriff said the Charger was driven by Clifford Tavares, 41. Investigators said Singh and Quartieri then followed the Charger and the 20-year-old shot Tavares in the head on the southwest side of a business parking lot at the corner of Buenaventura Boulevard and Simpson Road.
After Tavares was shot, he crashed into several other parked vehicles, Osceola County Fire Rescue said.
Tavares was rushed to the hospital where he died days later.
Mark McHugh, president and CEO of Gatorland, said Tavares was an employee in a statement released on Thursday.
“This is a classic case of road rage,” Lopez said. “The victim and the suspects did not know each other, they had never even had a single conversation.”
Following the shooting, the sheriff said Quartieri sold his Subaru. As such, Lopez said he faces a charge of accessory after the fact to murder.
Singh faces a charge of murder and tampering with evidence, due to the fact that his name was also on the title for the Subaru and he had to sign the title over when it was sold.
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