Broward County deputy is 7th in agency to die of coronavirus

Sergeant Shane Owens (Courtesy: Broward Sheriff's Office)

A Florida sheriff’s deputy has become the seventh person in the agency to die of complications from the coronavirus.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office said on its Facebook page that 48-year-old Sgt. Shane Owens died on Saturday. He worked for about 30 years with the agency’s detention department.

He had been hospitalized and on a ventilator prior to his death, the sheriff’s office said.

The SunSentinel reported that Owens’ father, David Owens, also worked for the Broward Sheriff’s Office, serving for 34 years in the Department of Detention and retiring in 2019.

"Shane was a no nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is supervisor who held people accountable. But more importantly, he taught them how to be the best they could be," Lt. Col. Tim Langelier, the director of the Department of Detention’s Operations and Administration said in a written statement. "If BSO had a Hall of Fame, Sgt. Shane Owens would be in it."