PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — A West Palm Beach man is facing first-degree murder charges and is being held in the Palm Beach County jail in connection with a fatal shooting involving a crashed vehicle in Palm Beach Gardens earlier this year.
Akeem Eliah Rivers, 26, was taken into custody on March 29 in Texas by the U.S. marshals and the Houston Police Department, in partnership with Palm Beach Gardens police. He made his first appearance Sunday and a judge ordered him held with no bond and a next court date of May 15.
An alleged accomplice, Keondre DeCharles Antonion Sisnett, 29, of West Palm Beach, was arrested Wednesday by Palm Beach Gardens police, in conjunction with the U.S. marshals in West Palm Beach. He faces a charge of accessory after the fact to murder and made his first appearance Thursday and his next court date is May 12.
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The shooting took place just after 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 9 at the intersection of North Military Trail and Northlake Boulevard and involved a crashed vehicle.
While Palm Beach Gardens police units were en route to the scene, police communications received multiple additional calls with information that a witness to the crash saw a firearm and heard at least three gunshots, according to the arrest report. Also the driver of one of the involved vehicles, a red Ford van, had been shot.
When police arrived at the scene, they found the victim, a 62-year-old man whose name has not been released, shot. He was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center where he later died from injuries after being shot six times.
Police said an investigation revealed that the crash was a result of a shooting, and two suspects fled the scene in a dark sedan.
Detectives were able to identify the vehicle and the two individuals involved.
The red van struck the rear of a vehicle that was stopped for the red light at the intersection, before proceeding into the intersection and turning right, stopping on the westernmost sidewalk of North Military trail, south of Northlake Boulevard.
Detectives obtained surveillance footage from the Shell gas station on the southwest corner of the intersection. Seconds before the van collided with the stopped vehicle, a black sedan, identified from video as a Kia, is seen traveling eastbound, speeding toward the intersection. Without pausing at the red light, the Kia turned into the southbound flow of traffic from the center lane of Northlake Boulevard.
