Jeremiah Minatee

Still, 22-year-old Herbie Innocent ended up dead Friday night and, two days later, Minattee, 18, was behind bars for his murder.

Police say witnesses reported that Innocent’s death was retaliation for him allegedly beating Minatee’s sister before he was shot dead outside a home on Ormond Avenue.

The sister told police Innocent, her ex-boyfriend, had punched her in the face several times when he met to pick up their baby earlier that night. After he left, the woman called her mother, who showed up with Minatee to check on her, she said.

Mary Dawson told police her son, Minatee, was upset. He had received a message from Innocent about the incident and meeting later that night to fight.

“Don’t do it,” she told her son. “It ain’t worth it.”

Dawson remembered her son telling her he was going to “square it up” between the two of them.

One man said he was with Minatee and another man when they were walking to Ormond Avenue to confront Innocent. He said the other man supplied Minatee with a small revolver, and that both men were behind him when the first shot was fired. He turned, the man said, and saw Minatee holding the gun and pointing it toward Innocent before firing two or three more times.

Another man reported he was with Innocent when he was shot and identified Minatee as the shooter. He said Innocent and his ex-girlfriend had been arguing on the phone throughout the night. After the beating, the man said he heard Innocent fighting with other people on the phone, yelling once he “was ready to die.”

When questioned, Minatee denied shooting Innocent. He said the two never talked the night his sister reported the beating.

But police checked Innocent’s phone records and noticed he had made and received calls to someone dubbed “Trigger J” – who had the same number as Minatee.

Minatee is being held at the St. Lucie County jail without bond and faces a felony premeditated murder charge.

Police are still investigating the shooting.

Tags: fatal shooting, Fort Pierce police, Herbie Innocent, homicide, Jeremiah Minatee, Ormond Avenue, retaliation

This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 4:19 pm and is filed under Crime, Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.