PORT ST. LUCIE — An 18-year-old man accused of fatally shooting one man and wounding another in an apparent robbery-related incident May 2 in St. Lucie West has been apprehended, police stated May 5.
Norrien Casminski, of Fort Pierce, was taken into custody following the shooting of Antoine Meyers and Jermonti Johnson, both 19, in the 1600 block of Northwest St. Lucie West Boulevard.
Shot in the head, Meyers died May 4, while Johnson was wounded.
Officers around 6:36 p.m. May 2 went to the 1600 Block of Northwest St. Lucie West Boulevard in St. Lucie West after reports of a shooting, police have said.
When investigators arrived, they found Meyers and Johnson with gunshot wounds inside a white Tesla.
Sharlett Key, 18, of Port St. Lucie, and Martravious Blue Jr., 19, of Fort Pierce, were arrested May 3, but Casminski, identified by police as the shooter, was taken into custody May 5.
Niemczyk said Meyers and Johnson were in the area from Georgia visiting a family member.
“They were engaged in the … practice of locating other individuals to buy cell phones in their names for them, they would pay them a couple 100 bucks for purchase of cell phones,” he said. “They would take those phones, resell them on the street for a significant profit.”
Niemczyk suspected they’d exhausted locations to buy phones and people to do that for them in Georgia.
He said they were in the local area approaching individuals to buy phones for them.
“The two male suspects in this case were approached and they flashed cash in front of them and solicited them to buy phones for them,” Niemczyk said. “They actually stopped at a couple of locations prior to ending up by the Verizon in Saint Lucie West.”
Asked why someone would participate in such a scheme involving cell phones, Niemczyk said typically the phones would be used to commit fraud and other crimes.
Niemczyk said the suspects knew Key.
“Initially, they probably had the intention of buying the phones, but it didn’t take them long to realize that if those phones were used to commit crimes, they would lead back to them, and it wasn’t in their best interest to do that for the money that they were being paid,” Niemczyk said.
He said the victims reportedly flashed large sums of money.
“They realized that the profitable crime for them to commit would be to rob the victims,” he said.
He said Key, in a different vehicle, followed Meyers, Johnson, Blue and Casminski, who were in the Tesla.
They drove from Fort Pierce to St. Lucie West where the shooting occurred.
(This story was updated with new information and video.)
Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on X @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-267-7926. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Accused gunman in fatal shooting in Florida in custody
Reporting by Will Greenlee, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
