Steven Monroe, a 49-year-old African American male, was found with a single gunshot wound to his back on May 6, 2017, at 2691 Northwest 15th Street near Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The Broward Sheriff's Office (BSO) responded to the scene and initiated an investigation. Despite their efforts, the case went cold due to a lack of cooperation from involved parties and exhausted leads.
Monroe spent the next several years in and out of the hospital dealing with complications from his injury.
In September 2021, Monroe was admitted to the hospital with a life-threatening condition directly related to his 2017 gunshot wound. He passed away on October 20, 2021. The Broward Medical Examiner's Office later ruled his cause of death as complications from the gunshot wound, classifying it as a homicide. This development prompted the BSO's Cold Case Unit to reopen the investigation.
With the assistance of the BSO Strategic Investigations Division Gangs Unit, detectives identified new evidence and witnesses, leading them to David Hargrove, a 56-year-old male from Deerfield Beach. Hargrove was indicted for first-degree murder by a Broward County Grand Jury on May 11, 2022. He was arrested without incident on May 16, 2022, near Northwest 22nd Road and Northwest Sixth Place in Fort Lauderdale.
Hargrove's criminal history includes a 1986 conviction for manslaughter and cocaine trafficking, among other offenses. He was sentenced to 12 years in state prison and released in 2005. His arrest for Monroe's murder marks another significant chapter in his criminal record. The motive for the shooting remains unclear, and Hargrove is currently held in the Broward County Jail without bond.
