Deputy killed; inmate accused

The escapee is caught four hours after the shooting in Broward.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published November 8, 2007

POMPANO BEACH - A routine inmate transport to court turned deadly in six minutes Wednesday after a convicted robber handcuffed in a medical transportation van stole a 76-year-old Broward County deputy's gun and fatally shot him, officials said.

The suspect fled in the van, leading deputies on an hours-long manhunt before he was arrested.

Minutes after departing from a county jail about 8 a.m., Michael Mazza fought through a partition separating him from Deputy Paul Rein, the sole officer in the vehicle, Sheriff Al Lamberti said.

Rein died shortly after he was found bleeding in a Pompano Beach parking lot. He had been shot once in the chest with his own weapon, Lamberti said. Rein had not been wearing a bulletproof vest.

Lamberti said it was a routine transport, done "400 to 500 times a day." Rein had talked to his wife on his cell phone 10 minutes before the shooting, he said.

Rein was transported to North Broward Medical Center, where he died. He had other injuries, including a broken finger and bruises, suffered in the altercation with Mazza, Lamberti said.

Mazza, 40, was arrested about four hours later at a pawn shop in Hollywood, with Rein's gun in his possession. He was charged with first-degree murder and escape. Mazza appeared before a judge Wednesday evening and was denied bail before being transferred to a maximum-security jail in Miami-Dade County.

"We all just feel it's probably better he be housed at another facility outside of Broward County," Lamberti said.

Mazza confessed to shooting the deputy, the sheriff said.

Mazza was already serving one life sentence for armed robbery and faced another in a trial under way at the Broward County Courthouse. Authorities initially speculated accomplices may have helped him escape Wednesday, but Lamberti said they had no evidence of that.

Mazza, dressed in a suit and tie, was on his way to the second day of trial on charges of bank robbery and eluding police. He had been complaining of a back problem, which is why he was in the medical van, but it's not clear if that was a legitimate claim, sheriff's spokesman Elliott Cohen said.

Mazza abandoned the van 20 miles away in a Fort Lauderdale restaurant parking lot, then hitchhiked to Hollywood in several cars, Lamberti said.

The man who says he drove Mazza to Uptown Pawn told the Associated Press that he met Mazza at another pawn shop. Mazza asked for a lift.

The man said Mazza didn't care where they went, so they headed to a soup kitchen and ate. Mazza was not wearing handcuffs and gave his name as "Tony," said the man, who would only identify himself as Mark.

"He said he just had an argument with his wife, and he left from up state," Mark said. "He was sitting down at a store, all exhausted and everything ... and his leg was messed up, hurting."

Mazza by then had changed into a T-shirt, shorts and sneakers. It wasn't until Mark saw Mazza's picture on an Uptown Pawn television that he realized his passenger was a fugitive.

"I freaked out," he said.

He went outside and took the keys from his car, then he and the manager called 911. Police quickly arrived, arresting Mazza. It wasn't known where he had gotten the change of clothes.

A person who identified herself as a relative declined comment when reached at Rein's home.

Rein's ex-wife, Mollie Meyers, said she and Rein split up seven years to the day he was killed. Both of them remarried after being wed for 49 years, said Meyers, 75. He had become a sheriff's deputy in his 50s after having worked for the U.S. Postal Service, she said.

"He was a typical father, a typical husband, working very hard for his family," Meyers said. "Sometimes he held down two jobs to provide for his family."

This is the fourth South Florida law enforcement officer and the third in Broward shot in the last three months.

[Last modified November 7, 2007, 23:29:07]