MELBOURNE, FL - September 1, 2020 - According to an online news report posted on KSDK.com, a 43-year-old man from Melbourne, Florida, has been identified as the possible shooter in the St. Louis Police Officer Tamarris Bohannon murder case. The suspect has not been charged with the murder that made national news. However, when the Ethical Society of Police identified the 43-year-old man as the possible shooter, the news report states that law enforcement claims the suspect attempted to flee the country.
The 43-year-old suspect has a lengthy criminal history, according to court records reported in the news article. The suspect once served time in Florida for shooting a motorist when he was engaged in a road rage conflict. In 2019, the suspect was involved in domestic abuse allegations concerning his wife and kids. In 2020, the suspect was arrested for alleged sexual assault in Florida. Following the sexual assault charge, the suspect was caught, by law enforcement, driving his car with a substantial cache of weapons. On August 19, 2020, the suspect did not appear at his court date, and law enforcement thinks the suspect was attempting to flee the county to avoid prosecution.
Officer Tod Goodyear, the Brevard County Sheriff's Department spokesperson, stated that Florida law enforcement officers hope the suspect will not hurt another person, especially after the young St. Louis police officer, a father of two boys and one girl, was allegedly murder by the suspect.
The Ethical Society of Police, an organization, comprised mostly of African American law enforcement officers, openly identified the suspect this past Monday. The suspect is also facing criminal charges in a different state. The news report shares the suspect's lengthy criminal history, which goes back as far as 1995.
In January 2020, Brevard County Sheriff's deputies obtained a search warrant for the suspect's car and the suspect's DNA. According to law enforcement, the investigators spotted pistols, rifles, rounds of ammo, and a bullet-resistant vest in the suspect's car. As law enforcement searched the suspect's car, officers discovered a two-piece mask, a black tactical backpack, and thousands of ammunition rounds. The suspect messaged the gun broker whom he purchased the weapons. The gun broker stated that he was not aware that the suspect was a felon when he sold the suspect the firearms and ammunition.
According to the news report, the suspect had family and friends back in St. Louis, Missouri, but why the suspect was allegedly at the Tower Grove neighborhood and shot the officer is unknown at this time. The suspect reportedly fired a weapon at a homeless person at Tower Grove neighborhood, and the suspect forced his way into a couple's home where he allegedly ordered the couple out of their apartment at gunpoint.
A St. Louis police officer responded to the scene, and the suspect shot him in the head. Then the suspect allegedly moved to a different location to have a higher position, and the suspect fired down upon the law enforcement officers who were attempting to save the downed officer. One law enforcement officer sustained a gunshot wound to the leg but has now been treated and discharged from a local area hospital.
According to the St. Louis investigators working the case, the suspect deliberately shot at the homeless man to lure law enforcement officers to the scene, and then open fire on the law enforcement officers.