A 33-year-old woman is being held without bond in the Broward Main Jail after Fort Lauderdale Police arrested her in connection with the fatal shooting of Mike Menard, a 32-year-old father who was gunned down outside his parents' home last month. Candacia Walker was booked on August 6 and now faces a first-degree murder charge in the killing that has shaken the Lauderdale Manors neighborhood since early July.
Menard was found shot dead inside his car in the 1300 block of Northwest 13th Court on July 8, according to WPLG Local 10, which reported that police have not provided additional details about a motive or what led investigators to Walker. The station's digital journalist Chris Gothner has requested a copy of Walker's arrest report to learn more about the case.
Fort Lauderdale Police were first drawn to the scene by an automated ShotSpotter alert logged at approximately 4:24 a.m., according to CBS News, and officers arrived to find Menard unresponsive inside his vehicle. The city's acoustic gunshot detection technology, which notifies dispatchers of gunfire without requiring a 911 call, was installed under a $595,000 contract the Fort Lauderdale City Commission approved in July 2020, per WLRN.
Surveillance Video Shows Gunman Fleeing in Waiting Car
Surveillance footage captured the moments before the shooting, showing Menard taking out the trash at his parents' house around 4:30 a.m. before he got into his vehicle, where a gunman ran up to the driver's side window and opened fire before escaping in a waiting car, the CBS News report states. Menard's father, Philippe Menard, told the station in a broadcast interview that the family home had experienced troubling violence in the days before the shooting, including someone setting fire to a front-yard tree and shooting at the house. It remains unclear whether those earlier incidents were connected to the fatal shooting, and law enforcement initially released no suspect information or clear motive.
Menard was a Haitian-American father of a 5-year-old daughter who graduated from the University of Central Florida with a criminal justice degree, the first in his family to earn a college degree, according to the same report. He had previously worked at a law firm in Boca Raton. Hoodline's earlier coverage of the case detailed how the ShotSpotter alert led police to the scene before Walker had been identified or arrested.
Capital Murder Charge Carries Mandatory Sentence
Under Florida Statute § 782.04(1)(a), first-degree murder is a capital felony punishable by mandatory life imprisonment without parole or the death penalty upon conviction, according to the Brancato Law Firm. Prosecutors must file notice within 45 days of arraignment if they intend to seek the death penalty. Because the charge is capital, Florida law also requires state prosecutors to secure a formal grand jury indictment, with agreement from at least 12 grand jurors, before the case can move forward, per Hanlon Law — meaning prosecutors cannot bring the first-degree murder charge through a standard direct filing alone.
Capital murder defendants in Florida are typically ineligible for pre-trial bail, which is consistent with Walker's status: county jail records confirm she is being held without bond. Police have not said whether Walker is believed to have been the shooter captured on surveillance video or whether she is accused of playing another role in the killing, and that question remains unresolved.
Neighborhood Has Seen Other Recent Violent Crime
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said in a July public message that the city recorded a 28% reduction in homicides over a five-year period alongside expanded police department recruitment, and that municipal leaders allocated $321 million for public safety initiatives in the 2025 budget. Even so, Lauderdale Manors has seen other serious cases this year. In February, Fort Lauderdale police arrested two men in connection with an alleged sexual assault at Mills Pond Park, a case Hoodline covered in its report on felony arrests near Mills Pond Park.
For now, Walker remains in custody as the investigation continues, and key questions about motive and the relationship between Walker and Menard remain unanswered publicly. Anyone with information is presumably still being sought by investigators, though police have not detailed a tip line or outlined further specifics beyond confirming the arrest.
