FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ When gunmen rushed her car while stopped at a red light in West Palm Beach, Diamond Ware leaned over her back seat to shield her three young children from flying bullets. The 24-year-old mother was shot five times _ but survived.
The driver of the car, Demetrius McDonald, who was also hit by a bullet, told police he was driving his family west on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard and was stopped at a red light.
Three men he said he did not recognize got out of a white Chevrolet Malibu and opened fire on his car, police said.
McDonald had a gun, too, and fired back before he sped away toward his home, according to the statement he gave police.
The shootout at around 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 26 was detected by a ShotSpotter device. Later, calls came into 911 that sent officers to Ware's home, where police found a blue Hyundai Sonata riddled with bullet holes.
McDonald, 29, came out of the house, walked back to the shooting scene a few blocks north, and gave officers his account of what happened. He was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center to treat a bullet wound to the left side of his back.
A fire rescue crew took Ware to Good Samaritan Hospital where she was treated, then sent to St. Mary's for emergency surgery, investigators said.
Her three children _ ages 7, 3 and 1 _ were unharmed, according to the police report.
Another woman, whose name was redacted from the police report, told police she was with the family at a store just before the shooting and saw a white Malibu drive by about three times. Police said she recognized the driver as Tydarius Tavon Adderly.
Ware later picked Adderly, 20, out of a photo lineup at the hospital, detectives said.
Adderly was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail Friday on five charges of attempted murder and a charge of child neglect, records show. The other two gunmen, who wore masks, are still being sought.
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