WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. _ A 41-year-old man is facing first-degree murder charges after authorities found three people shot to death late Wednesday at an apartment near Palm Beach International Airport, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said.
Yuniel Martinez-De La Cotera was standing outside a home on the 4700 block of Cole Street when deputies responded to reports of a shooting shortly before 10:30 p.m. He was immediately taken into custody and later arrested on three first-degree murder charges.
The sheriff's office did not release the identities of the victims Thursday. It still was trying to reach next of kin for at least one of them.
Jail records indicate Martinez-De La Cotera lives on Cole Street, a dead-end row of low-slung houses and duplex apartments west of Military Trail and north of Belvedere Road in suburban West Palm Beach. He was expected to appear before a judge Thursday. A search of Palm Beach County court records showed no prior criminal arrests.
The sheriff's office said its investigators quickly determined Martinez-De La Cotera had fatally shot the three people and said they found a weapon in his possession. He refused to speak with authorities about the shootings.
The shootings took place in an apartment within a one-story duplex about one-quarter mile west of Military, toward the end of Cole Street. The sheriff's office had crime-scene tape around the residence for hours after the fatal shootings.
The three fatal shootings, along with one of an unidentified man in Lake Worth late Wednesday, brought the number of confirmed homicides in Palm Beach County this year to 34, according to a Palm Beach Post database.
The incident was the second time this year that multiple people died of gunshot wounds in a single incident in Palm Beach County, according to the database. There were five shootings with multiple victims during 2018.
