MARION COUNTY, FL (352today.com) – The Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) arrested a 25-year-old Ocala man this week in connection with a July murder.
According to the sheriff’s office, on July 20 of this year, deputies responded to 6500 SE 41st Ct. in response to a shooting. When they arrived, they found 34-year-old Quentin Samuel Jr. lying in the bushes dead from several gunshot wounds.
Deputies say Samuel had been shot in the face and had other gunshot wounds on the right side of his body.
Earlier this week, on October 3, deputies arrested Jowarn Mitchell, Samuel’s cousin, in connection to his death.
352today obtained the incident report to take a closer look at the case.
Piecing Clues Together
Detectives interviewed Samuel’s wife and according to the report, she told them her husband was known to sell drugs to Mitchell.
According to the incident report, a witness told deputies they saw a maroon-colored truck leaving the scene that they believed belonged to Mitchell’s father.
The report says on the day of the shooting, deputies pulled Mitchell over on Highway 314A and East Highway 40 driving the truck matching the description given to authorities.
Detectives took Mitchell into custody to interview him in connection with the case. MCSO says Mitchell told detectives that at the time of the shooting, he was not near Samuel’s home and instead was getting food and a tire fixed.
When deputies asked Mitchell why he was in the area where he was pulled over, he told deputies he received “crazy news” [about his cousin being shot] and went on a drive to clear his head.
Through intersection cameras, detectives say they were able to confirm that Mitchell was traveling away from the location of the shooting around the time of the 911 call. According to the incident report, other evidence, including Mitchell’s cell phone records placed him at the shooting location at the time of the incident. Deputies also obtained a warrant to retrieve the truck’s GPS tracking data.
This led detectives to believe Mitchell was lying about his whereabouts and ultimately leading to his arrest.
Deputies charged Mitchell with second-degree murder while committing another felony. He’s currently behind bars in the Marion County Jail without bond. He has a court date set for November 7.
MCSO’S Original Facebook Post about the Shooting
