ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Two Vero Beach residents were arrested early Wednesday after one admitted shooting an alligator and another was spotted putting pink-colored meat in a cabinet, according to recently released arrest affidavits.

Ernest Ray Hublur, 18, reportedly was shining a light on Alderman ranch off Shinn Road about 12:15 a.m. Wednesday. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — Shelitta Woods calls the past six months “miserable.”

“You got to understand, it’d been like 13, 14 years before I had another child,” Woods said. “It was just me and Lil’ Bo, just me and Lil’ Bo, everywhere I go, me and Lil’ Bo.”

Woods’ 16-year-old son, Torenda “Lil’ Bo” Youngblood Jr., was fatally shot at his bus stop March 9, two days after Demetrius Wells, 18, sustained fatal wounds in a drive-by shooting. Two men also were hit by gunfire during separate shootings between the homicides. (more…)

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — After weeks of police officer training in a classroom, Indian River State College students move on to a small platform that provides a high-tech simulation of how they react in a real-life situation.

They’re given a weapon that only emits lasers and equipped with a belt that zaps them if they put themselves in danger.

“It teaches consequences if they make bad decisions,” Stephen Huntsberger, associate dean of Public Service Education for IRSC, said of the VirTra Systems simulator at the complex.

The simulator is one of the planned demonstrations at Friday’s public open house at the new Indian River State College Public Safety Complex.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — A man accused of shooting a pickup truck on Interstate 95 — killing a German shepherd puppy inside — faces a felony charge in a case that remains under investigation, according to a police spokesman and a report obtained Thursday.

Andy Phillips, 22, is accused of firing two shots around 1:45 a.m. Tuesday at a Toyota Tundra pickup with two people and the puppy inside as it headed south on I-95 near Southwest Becker Road.

The victims, Laritza Y. Fontela, 19, and 20-year-old Yosdany Rodriguez, are from Miami, and Fontela said they were in Port St. Lucie visiting relatives. The assailants reportedly continued south in a Toyota 4Runner after the shooting. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — After Julia Rolon-Estrada died of a gunshot wound to the artery in her leg on July 26, 2006, she was wrapped in a blue tarp and again in a green blanket before being buried in the yard of her Port St. Lucie home, near a rear sliding glass door.

A dog trained to find cadavers helped authorities locate the newly tilled grave, which was covered with a wooden pallet holding 20 mulch bags stacked on top.

Rolon-Estrada’s jailed husband, 43-year-old Albert Estrada, state prosecutors say, is the man guilty of killing his wife and high-school sweatheart, who had walked out on him the night before she died at age 39.
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FORT PIERCE — About 6 p.m. Tuesday, the U.S. Marshall Fugitive Task Force arrested David Jerome Brown, 48, of the 500 block of North 27th Street in connection with a Monday night attack on a woman and shooting of her son.

Brown was apprehended at the corner of North 27th Street and Avenue G without incident, said Fort Pierce Detective Ben Thayer.

The male victim was shot in the genitals and his mother pistol whipped Monday night in a suspected domestic-related incident before the attacker fled in a pickup truck, according to a police report released Tuesday and a sergeant.
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A Belle Glade man arrested Wednesday on an attempted murder charge is the latest suspect to land behind bars in connection with two Okeechobee County shootings from early this month.

Ethan Harris, 26, is being held at the Palm Beach County jail without bond.

Harris is accused of shooting Okeechobee County resident Javaris Johnson, 24, in the back as Johnson was riding his three-wheel motorcycle along Front Street at about 11:30 p.m. on July 2, according to the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office.

Jarvis Johnson was able to keep riding until the end of the block, where he veered into an empty lot, Sheriff’s Det. Ted Van Deman said.

A past dispute over rental property prompted the shooting, Van Deman said.
Johnson had been competing against Okeechobee resident Byron Brinkley, 29, over a lease agreement to open up a bar at the corner of Front and Fifth streets, Van Deman said. In the end, Johnson outbid Brinkely.

When Jarvis Johnson’s cousin, Tarrance Pryor, 30, heard that he had been shot at, he went to confront one of Brinkley’s acquaintances, 29-year-old Keith “Ki-Ki” Johnson, Van Deman said. Keith Johnson ended up shooting Pryor with a pistol, Van Deman said.

Keith Johnson fled the scene but was arrested later that night during a traffic stop. Brinkley was also arrested that night on charges of helping Johnson flee.

Harris fled the scene and it took some days before investigators were able to pin him down as a suspect for Jarvis Johnson’s shooting.

INDIANTOWN — For years, the owners of J&R Outfitters ran a hunting lodge featuring exotic game such as Asian water buffalo, Nilgai antelope and Pere David deer thinking they had all the required Martin County permits.

But several code violations were discovered at J&R Outfitters last fall after the opening of a shooting range that outraged nearby homeowners with incessant gunfire.

Now Bill Richey and Joe O’Bannon are aiming to keep their hunting lodge open by jumping through all the regulatory hoops that apply to their business at 7600 S.W. Fox Brown Road.

“We never dreamed that what we were doing was illegal and we never tried to get away with anything,” said Richey, a former state prosecutor. “We have been no secret in Martin County. We have been here for 20 years.” (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — A man was shot after a fight between a teen and a woman ended up with the man’s girlfriend accidentally firing a gun at him, police said.

Port St. Lucie resident Curtis Mock, 19, was taken to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center with serious but not life-threatening injuries.

Nineteen-year-old April Lipko and Alyssa Dolan, 17, were at Dolan’s home in the 1200 block of Southwest Santiago Street when they argued, according to police.

Dolan left her kitchen to retrieve a shotgun, which she then pointed at Lipko and her boyfriend, 18-year-old Christopher Wilson, police said.

Wilson and Lipko left, and once outside Wilson said he’d be calling authorities to report that Dolan had threatened to shoot them, police said.

Mock, Dolan’s boyfriend, swiped the phone from Wilson, which Wilson retrieved when he said he wouldn’t call 911, according to police.

Wilson began to back out of the driveway in his truck and Mock started walking back toward the house when Dolan discharged the gun and shot Mock in his right arm.
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STUART — After one hour of deliberation Thursday afternoon, a Martin County jury found Eric Lashawn Wiley guilty of second-degree murder in the Jan. 11, 2008, shooting death of 19-year-old Levi Dwight Starks in Stuart.

Wiley and his sister’s boyfriend were struggling over a gun after an alleged domestic dispute when the gun discharged and the .40-caliber bullet struck Starks in the chest.

In addition to second-degree murder, Wiley, 39, also was found guilty on aggravated assault and aggravated battery charges, and could face up to life in prison. (more…)