Two men accused

in a shooting death in an apparent exchange of cash for marijuana outside a Lake County Wal-Mart were indicted this week on first-degree murder and armedrobbery charges.

Two men accused in a shooting death in an apparent exchange of cash for marijuana outside a Lake County WalMart last year were indicted this week on first-degree murder and armed-robbery charges.

Authorities said that Scott Bernard Thomas and Roderick Duane Haynes Jr., both 24 and from Leesburg, are responsible for killing Mark Allen Estes, 44, who was shot twice in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart that straddles Leesburg and Fruitland Park off U.S. Highway 441.

“Generally, I can tell you that it appears to be a drug deal that turned into a robbery,” Assistant State Attorney Rich Buxman said Friday.

In reading text messages between the victim and the suspects, investigators said that they discovered Estes had been at the Wal-Mart at about 7 p.m. Sept. 19 in a 2011 Cadillac to purchase “fire” — a slang term for marijuana.

Video from the department store showed that Estes had been there since about 7 p.m. when a 2011 Toyota Camry, that officers said had been stolen in Sumter County several weeks earlier, pulled up next to Estes’ vehicle.

About a minute later, it pulled out of the parking space, striking another car before driving away, according to arrest reports.

Estes was lying on the ground, with spent .40-caliber ammunition nearby, the report said.

“The victim was inside the Camry when he was shot,” Buxman said, and officers found one bullet hole through the front seat and a “partial projectile” in the rear seat.

Thomas was arrested several days later and Haynes was arrested in November in Leesburg with the help of U.S. marshals, Buxman said.

The mandatory minimum sentence for those convicted of first-degree murder is life imprisonment, he said.