Gulf Breeze Police Department responded to shots fired in the 50 block of Gulf Breeze Parkway around 11 p.m. on Thursday, November 25 and later arrested Leonard Demond Brown, 20, on multiple related charges, including a first-degree felony homicide count of attempted felony murder.
Officers found a silver Toyota SUV with multiple bullet holes and a shattered windshield. A couple which had been occupying the vehicle were observed to be distraught after the drive-by shooting, which took place near the base of Pensacola Bay Bridge.
The passenger, who works on Pensacola Beach, showed police a photograph of the rear of the suspect vehicle, a white Chevrolet Avalanche, which was last seen fleeing the scene, heading toward Pensacola Bay Bridge.
The passenger told cops she had been having issues with a co-worker, Leonard Demond Brown, 20, making advances at her. Subsequently, her boyfriend confronted Brown at her place of employment.
Per the arrest report, during the verbal altercation Brown indicated he had a firearm, so the couple pulled into a parking garage and waited a few moments before leaving her workplace due to threats from the suspect, who was picked up from work in the Chevy.
The victim’s boyfriend reported the Chevy “veered” in front of him and that he observed the suspect outside the window shooting multiple rounds into his vehicle. He told cops the suspect was wearing a mask while shooting.
Police say the victim’s vehicle was hit by at least one bullet round which entered the lower half of the windshield on the driver’s side and narrowly missed the headrest, exiting with an “upward trajectory” through the upper half of the rear window.
Pensacola Police Department conducted a traffic stop on the suspected vehicle and detained two occupants, including the suspect.
During the course of the investigation, three .40 caliber Smith & Wesson shell casings were discovered. Additionally, a mask discovered in the Chevy was also taken into evidence.
Brown, who resides in the 3200 block of Maplewood Drive in Gulf Breeze, was booked into Santa Rosa County Jail on the following charges: a first-degree homicide charge of committing a felony which could cause death; a second-degree felony charge of firing a missile into a vehicle; a second-degree felony charge of discharing a firearm from a vehicle; a third-degree felony charge of aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony and a first-degree misdemeanor charge of improper exhibition of a firearm. He is being held without bond at this time.
