With multiple gunshot and knife wounds slowing him down, DeWayne Williams somehow managed to make it to a neighbor’s house on Sept. 12, 2019 to get help.
Fort Lauderdale police arrived at the 2800 block of Northeast 57th Street, where they found the wounded Williams and learned the location of the home invasion robbery. A neighbor told police Williams had been shot by his father, the owner of the house next door. A SWAT team was called. Six hours later they entered the house. And there, according to police, they found the body of the “father,” Bruce Salituri, 59.
A .22-caliber handgun with an attached noise suppressor was left behind at the scene. The gun was registered to Michael Robert Schnitzerling.
Schnitzerling, 34, is set to go on trial Monday for the murder of Salituri and the attempted murder of Williams, who survived. If convicted of Salituri’s murder, Schnitzerling will have to face the same jury to determine whether he deserves to be executed.
Williams lived with Salituri and often referred to him as his “dad,” though he only worked for him according to one of the warrants in the case. When police first arrived at the crime scene, the neighbor who reported the crime told police Williams identified his father as the shooter.
But Williams, recovering later in a hospital room, said he didn’t know the name of the person who shot him. The man was wearing an orange shirt and identified himself as an FPL worker, Williams said.
The man later came back and pointed the gun at Williams’ face. “Your dad pissed some people off, and you saw my face,” Williams recalled him saying. Williams was shot in the neck. The gunman switched to a knife after the gun jammed, according to the police account.
Florida has executed 15 death row inmates since 2023, eight of them this year alone. Two years ago the state made it easier for judges to sentence convicted killers to death, with a majority of eight out of 12 jurors needed to forward the recommendation. Before that, jury recommendations had to be unanimous, a requirement that allowed a single dissenting juror to spare the life of a convict and condemn him to life in prison.
The change in the law came months after three jurors declined to sentence gunman Nikolas Cruz to death for the 17 murders he committed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Cruz, 26, is serving a life sentence in the Florida State Prison system, though his exact location has not been disclosed as a security precaution.
Death row inmates typically spend between 20 and 40 years between sentencing and execution. One of the longest serving inmates, James Rose, 79, was a Broward killer sentenced in 1977.
According to court records, Schnitzerling, of Delray Beach, was identified as a suspect from the weapon that was left at the scene. Detectives were able to obtain a two-year-old resume listing Schnitzerling’s phone number, which was then used to track his whereabouts on the morning of the robbery and shootings.
He was arrested three weeks after the murder without incident, according to court documents.
The case is being tried in front of Broward Circuit Judge Martin Fein and prosecuted by Assistant Broward State Attorney Molly McGuire. Schnitzerling’s court-appointed defense lawyer, Kaitlin Gonzalez, works with the Office of the Regional Conflict Counsel.
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457. Follow him on Threads.net/@rafael.olmeda.