FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A veteran detention sergeant with the Broward Sheriff's Office has died after contracting coronavirus.
Sheriff Gregory Tony announced that Sgt. Shane Owens, 48, died early Saturday after being hospitalized.
Owens joined the BSO in 1991 and has been working as a detention deputy at the main jail since 1992. He was promoted to sergeant in 1999.
"Shane was a no nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is supervisor who held people accountable," Lt. Col. Tim Langelier, the director of operations and administration with the BSO's Department of Detention, said. "But more importantly, he taught them how to be the best they could be. If BSO had a Hall of Fame, Sgt. Shane Owens would be in it."
Owens graduated from Hollywood Hills High School before following in his father's footsteps. His father, Sgt. David Owens, retired from the BSO in 2019 after serving 34 years in the Department of Detention.
BSO spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright told the South Florida SunSentinel that Owens is the seventh employee to die from COVID-19.
A private ceremony will be held for Owens, who is survived by his father and other family members.