Boca double homicide: Police ID victims, say argument led to gunfire outside beach hotel

(This story was updated to add new information.)

BOCA RATON — Police have identified the 49-year-old man and the 32-year-old woman killed Friday outside a beachfront extended-stay hotel in Boca Raton and say the altercation began with an argument between the woman and the shooter.

Investigators said Christopher Liszak and Chandler Dill, both of Oakland Park, died from gunshot wounds sustained during a confrontation with De'Vante Moss, who authorities in Georgia arrested Saturday, less than a day after the altercation in a North Ocean Boulevard parking lot.

Police did not disclose the name of another man who was wounded in the shooting, describing him as a witness.

Moss, a Boynton Beach resident, remained in custody on Monday in Laurens County, Georgia, southeast of Macon. Authorities are expected to extradite him to Palm Beach County to face murder charges in Liszak and Dill's deaths.

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During a news conference with police and city officials Monday, Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer praised the police department's efforts to apprehend a suspect within 24 hours of the fatal shootings.

"Friday night's incident was more shocking because homicides and violence in our city are so rare," Singer said. "This was an isolated incident, but the swift response by our police department was part of their continued excellence."

The city saw one homicide in 2023 and has seen three this year prior to Friday's fatal shootings, according to a Palm Beach Post database. The other came in a murder-suicide on Labor Day.

Female murder victim had rented room at extended-stay hotel in Boca Raton

Police Chief Michelle Miuccio told reporters that her department's investigation revealed that Dill had rented a room at the hotel just north of East Palmetto Park Road and was there with Moss prior to the fatal altercation.

It appears Moss and Dill got into an argument, prompting Moss to leave the room and take Dill's purse, Miuccio said.

Dill reportedly ran after Moss and argued with him near a silver four-door Jaguar as she tried pulling her purse out of his arms. Miuccio said a man then approached and tried to intervene. Moss then exited the driver's side of the vehicle and removed something from the back seat, she said.

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The other man ran to a nearby truck and removed a small bag. He returned from the truck, opened the passenger side door of the Jaguar and quickly moved toward the rear of the vehicle to seek cover after seeing Moss. Around the same time, Liszak exited his hotel room and attempted to intervene.

Moss raised a pistol and shot Dill and Liszak at close range, Miuccio said. Moss reportedly then turned the pistol toward the other man and shot him. The man crawled toward the motel and Moss ran after him and shot at the man again as the man raised his empty hands over his head.

Investigators are still sorting out the relationships between Dill, Liszak, Moss and the unidentified man who was shot, Miuccio said.

Police closed the beachfront road for about seven hours Friday as they investigated, combing video from nearby surveillance cameras for the suspect’s license plate number.

Investigators said they entered the plate number into a nationwide database of wanted vehicles, alerting authorities across the country and leading to Moss’ arrest.

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Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham . Help support our work: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Boca double homicide: Police ID victims, say argument led to gunfire outside beach hotel