Shooting suspect Demarius Wilson’s two months on the run has come to an end after a Plant City Police officer stopped a car Monday evening, found Wilson trying to hide inside and arrested him.
Lakeland Police Chief Sam Taylor said Wilson, 22, was the getaway driver from a parking-lot ambush in north Lakeland in March that left a 3-year-old boy and Wilson’s twin brother dead, and a third man injured.
A Plant City Police arrest affidavit stated that an officer observed a silver sedan with broken taillights and flipped on his lights and siren at East Baker and North Wheeler streets, but the sedan sped off, and turned down North Wheeler, braking erratically before coming to a stop in a darkened area. The officer called for backup as he went to talk to the driver.
The affidavit shows Wilson was hiding on the back floorboard behind the driver’s seat when Plant City Police stopped the car about 9 p.m. Monday evening. The officer ran Wilson’s name and found he was wanted. Both Wilson and the driver, Keundai Wilson, were arrested and remained in the Hillsborough County Jail Tuesday. It is not clear if they are related.
The shooting happened March 11 at the Cambridge Cove Apartments, which is bordered by I-4 on the south, Kathleen Road on the west and Mall Hill Road on the north.
The toddler’s mother, Yeimarie Baez, 21, and her friend Robert Einzig, 23, had been visiting friends at the apartments, with Baez’s two children, a 3-month-old daughter and 3-year-old son Jaquez Norton.
The foursome was leaving in a red Toyota RAV4 when a white Dodge Challenger pulled in front of them, blocking them in. The entire incident was captured on doorbell cameras.
Then, Taylor said, Kemarius Wilson, 22, got out of the passenger side of the Challenger with a handgun and approached Baez, who was in the RAV4’s driver’s seat.
Taylor said witnesses reported hearing Baez shout that her children were in the car, but it was unclear if the shooters heard her. He said it was possible the assailants did not know the children were present.
Kavarius Green, 30, got out of the Challenger with a rifle and approached Einzig, who was sitting in the RAV4’s front passenger seat and also had a legally purchased rifle and handgun.
Green allegedly shoved the barrel of the rifle into the passenger window of the RAV4 and Einzig grabbed it, with the two fighting over it. The gun discharged, injuring Einzig.
Baez grabbed her infant daughter out of the center back seat and fled as Einzig fired back with his handgun.
Green then ran to the front of the car and fired the rifle into the front of the RAV4 multiple times, Taylor said. That is when Jaquez was shot and killed instantly.
At the same time, Kemarius Wilson was running around the back of the RAV4 and he was struck by Green’s bullets.
Both Green and Kemarius Wilson got back into the Challenger and Demarius Wilson drove the vehicle away from the scene, south on Kathleen Road, winding up at the home of one of the Wilsons’ relatives in the 800 block of West 14th Street. Taylor said Kemarius Wilson was taken out of the Challenger’s passenger seat, put into another car and driven to Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Officials said Demarius Wilson then drove the Challenger to the 800 block of West Crawford Street, parked it between two houses, put a black tarp partially on it and fled.
According to WTSP, Green, accompanied by his attorney, turned himself in to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office on March 19. Green was wanted for two counts of first-degree murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle and attempted first-degree murder.
A record of Green could not be found with the Hillsborough County Jail nor the Polk County Jail. Wilson’s arrest affidavit shows he was also wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Both could be facing federal charges related to the March 11 shooting.
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