A jury has found Romuliss Hicks guilty of attempted manslaughter, not attempted murder, in the 2024 shooting that left a Sunrise police detective with a shattered femur and a severed vein in his leg. The verdict came Wednesday after a four-day trial over the shootout that unfolded near a public bus park-and-ride station in Fort Lauderdale.
Detective Robert Padron was shot in the leg while helping execute an arrest warrant on January 2, 2024, according to NBC 6 South Florida. Padron and other Sunrise officers were in Fort Lauderdale to take Hicks into custody when gunfire broke out near Northwest 22nd Avenue and Broward Boulevard, around 2:30 p.m., as reported by Local 10 News. Padron was shot in the leg and Hicks was wounded in the groin before Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue transported both men to Broward Health Medical Center, per that outlet's report.
Padron's body-worn camera captured the moment he was hit and fell to the ground, footage that was shown during the trial. Hicks was originally charged with attempted murder, but the jury instead convicted him on the lesser charge of attempted manslaughter, a verdict the station's report says followed four days of testimony.
Defense Argued There Was No Intent to Kill
Hicks' defense attorney, Dave Martellino, rested his case without calling any witnesses. He told the jury that attempted manslaughter, not attempted murder, accurately captured what happened in the sudden exchange of gunfire, arguing there was no proof Hicks specifically intended to kill Padron. “This is what Mr. Hicks should've been charged with, this is an accurate definition of what happened,” Martellino said, according to the same account.
That argument evidently persuaded jurors, who convicted Hicks of the lesser offense. Under Florida law, attempted manslaughter by act is a third-degree felony carrying up to five years in prison, though statutory enhancements can apply when firearms are involved, according to Pumphrey Law. Attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, by contrast, carries up to life imprisonment under that same legal framework. Hicks now faces 15 years in prison on the attempted manslaughter conviction, per NBC 6 South Florida's report.
Officer's Injuries Required Four Surgeries
Testimony from the trial detailed the severity of Padron's wounds. Detective Padron testified that Hicks' bullet shattered his femur and severed a vein returning blood from his foot, requiring four surgeries and leaving him dependent on blood thinners and compression garments, the station reported.
Padron's injuries and actions during the arrest earned him recognition beyond the courtroom. In May 2025, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier presented Padron with the 2024 Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award, citing his courage in drawing gunfire away from bystanders and neutralizing Hicks despite being shot, according to the Office of the Florida Attorney General. At the time of the shooting, Padron was a 12-year law enforcement veteran, including 10 years with the Sunrise Police Department, and served as a member of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, per that same announcement.
A Warrant Tied to a Violent Domestic Shooting
The arrest warrant that sent detectives after Hicks stemmed from a December 30, 2023 domestic violence incident in Sunrise, in which Hicks ambushed his child's mother on a stairwell, shot her in the arm and shoulder blade, and stole her 2003 Mercury Sable, according to CBS News Miami. Hicks was separately tried for that domestic shooting and is now serving a 50-year sentence from that case, the same outlet reported.
Hicks had a lengthy criminal record before the 2024 shootout. He was on probation through 2032 following Florida robbery convictions in 2014 and 2021, according to The Floridian. In January 2016, Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed a five-year prison sentence for Hicks after he violated probation from a 2011 robbery charge by breaking into a Pompano Beach gun store, according to FindLaw. Police had apprehended him inside a perimeter set up after the store's silent alarm triggered, that record shows.
Additional Charges and Oversight Still Pending
Hicks was absent from the attempted manslaughter trial, and a judge urged his attorneys to ensure he attends Wednesday's proceedings, NBC 6 South Florida reported. He still faces a separate charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm, and prosecutors say they will present witnesses in that case.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement launched an independent investigation into the officer-involved shooting following the January 2024 incident, as CBS News Miami reported, a standard oversight step whenever an officer's weapon discharge results in injury. The outcome of that review was not detailed in reporting on the verdict.
