As Pensacola police spent nearly two weeks scouring surveillance footage to find who killed Phillip Sheppard Jr. during the July 5 downtown mass shooting, officials say they found the suspect and made moves to arrest him — but not before he turned a gun on himself.
Trevon Bradley, 20, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound July 16 in his home as PPD, U.S. Marshals and State Attorney’s Office investigators were attempting to serve an arrest warrant at his home in the Oakwood Terrace Apartments, formerly known as the Truman Arms apartment complex.
Hundreds of hours went into studying grainy surveillance footage from nearby businesses that appeared to show two groups of people in various states of argument. That argument escalated to the mass shooting that killed Sheppard and injured six others on Intendencia Street around 1:20 a.m. following July 4th celebrations downtown.
Police say U.S. Marshals knocked on Bradley’s front door announcing they had a warrant for Bradley. A female and child inside the apartment were allowed to leave.
Bradley, now alone, was told to surrender to law enforcement and exit the apartment, according to PPD.
“Bradley did not come out when told to do so, and shots were heard coming from inside the apartment,” a PPD news release said. “A short time later a remote controlled camera was placed in the apartment and it was discovered that Bradley died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
The PPD say they are still investigating.
According to police, Sheppard got into an argument with 26-year-old Nicholas Safford on July 5. Investigators believe Safford was given a gun by 16-year-old Kanye Walker and that Safford fired toward Sheppard, sparking the crossfire shooting.
Despite allegedly being the first to fire, police say Safford didn’t actually land the shot that killed Sheppard.
Bradley’s involvement that night, other than the belief he landed the fatal shot, has not yet been disclosed by the PPD.
The Office of the State Attorney charged Safford with attempted first-degree premeditated murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and discharging a firearm in public. Walker, who will be tried as an adult, is charged with principal to attempted first-degree premeditated murder, principal to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm by a minor.
Safford’s girlfriend, 25-year-old Lillian Meyers, is charged with accessory after the fact and tampering with evidence, because she allegedly accepted the gun from Safford after the shooting and took it away from the crime scene.
Benjamin Johnson is the breaking news, crime and military reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He covers local law enforcement, courts, breaking news and military within Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. He can be reached at bjohnson@pnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Phillip Sheppard murder suspect died by suicide as police attempted arrest
Reporting by Benjamin Johnson, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Benjamin Johnson, Pensacola News Journal | USA TODAY Network
