Years after a man was killed at a Fort Lauderdale convenience store, a police investigation revealed that a feud between families led to his death.
Warren Pollock, 24, shot Steven Black, 34, in the head while he was inside of Tony’s Market on March 13, 2022, according to a probable cause affidavit. His sister, Wanisha Pollock, 29, drove the getaway car that circled the store 13 times before Black was shot, the affidavit says.
Warren Pollock was arrested in Georgia last week and has been indicted on first-degree murder charges, according to Fort Lauderdale Police. His sister is charged with accessory after the fact and was arrested in Fort Lauderdale two days later.
The 2022 shooting also spurred a lawsuit. Months after Black’s death, his mother, Collette Black, sued Tony’s Market, claiming that the store failed to protect her son. By that point, there had been at least 20 reports of shootings or shots fired at the store in the previous five years, according to Black’s lawyer, Kimberly Wald. The area was “so dangerous that local police put a Shot Spotter on the roof.”
“I need closure,” Black told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in 2022. “I need to stop crying all day. I’m tired of crying. My son needs justice and I don’t care where it comes from.”
The shooting appeared to be in retaliation for an incident that had occurred earlier the same day, according to the affidavit. Black and a friend had gone to a Lauderhill home about 1:30 p.m. so that the friend could speak to the mother of his child. When the friend and the woman got into an argument, Black intervened, as did the woman’s mother and her mother’s husband, Freddie Wooten Sr.
At some point “during the chaos,” Black punched Wooten in the face, which “caused serious bodily harm,” the affidavit states. The woman’s mother then posted a picture of Black to social media.
Beginning shortly before 2 p.m., surveillance footage captured Wanisha Pollock’s Nissan Altima driving in front of Tony’s Market 13 times, the affidavit states. “It was obvious the driver of the Nissan Altima was looking for the victim, who was known to frequent Tony’s Market.”
At 6:45 p.m., a man in a mask got out of the car, walked into the store, shot Black in the head, then ran back out and into the car, before speeding away, according to the footage. The man was later identified as Warren Pollock.
Detectives had spoken to Wanisha Pollock on the day of the murder, but she declined to give a statement. They later searched her phone records and traced her most-called number to a person in the Wooten family, the affidavit indicates.
“It is evident that after the felony battery a feud ensued between Mr. Wooten’s family and with people related to” Black, the affidavit states, adding that the homicide “appeared to be in retaliation.”
Working with the Miami Gardens and Miami Beach police departments, detectives linked the gun used in the shooting back to Warren Pollock through shell casings from a shooting that took place in 2021 in Miami Gardens.
Last week’s arrests gave closure to the family of Black, who had waited for justice in the criminal case while battling Tony’s Market in civil court.
“They can finally close this chapter and have peace of mind that the people that were responsible for this absolutely horrendous crime can be pursued in the criminal justice system and have accountability,” Wald told the Sun Sentinel on Friday.
The lawsuit against Tony’s Market was settled in 2023. The store has been torn down.
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