Third suspect charged in fatal shooting
A third person charged in connection with a fatal west Orlando shooting was booked into the Orange County Jail Tuesday.
Jaqyoune Adams, 23, is being held on charges of first-degree murder and attempted robbery with a firearm in connection with the killing of 35-year-old Wardell Mitchell. Mitchell was found dead Feb. 6 in the driveway of a home in the 4500 block of Malibu Street.
Adams was transferred Tuesday to Orange County from the Volusia County Jail, where he was being held in connection with a burglary arrest.
Adams was indicted last week by a grand jury. The two other men arrested, Antonio Postell and Corey Ferguson, also face first-degree murder charges, records show.
Investigators believe Adams, Postell and Ferguson targeted Mitchell, planning to rob him outside of the Malibu Street home where he was visiting a friend, a warrant affidavit for Ferguson shows. Witness statements and video footage from home surveillance cameras in the neighborhood showed the suspects circling the Malibu home in a BMW SUV minutes after Mitchell went inside.
In an interview with detectives, Postell said they were driving around the area when Ferguson directed him to the house on Malibu Street and told him to stop, the affidavit shows. He said Adams and Ferguson exited the SUV armed with guns and Adams approached Mitchell, who was standing in the driveway, Det. Toyd Montford wrote in the affidavit.
Mitchell was waiting for his friend, who had just gone inside to get some cigarettes, the friend told investigators.
Postell said he heard Adams talking to Mitchell, then a gunshot rang out and Adams began yelling for help, Montford wrote. That’s when Ferguson fired at Mitchell, striking him, investigators said.
Postell denied seeing Adams or Ferguson actually fire the shots “because he didn’t turn his head or use his mirrors,” Montford wrote.
The two ran back to the SUV and they drove off, Postell told detectives, according to the affidavit.
“[Postell] denied having any knowledge that a robbery was going to take place even though they were circling where the victim resides thus targeting him,” Montford wrote in the affidavit.
Montford pointed to Postell’s statements that he left the car running while Adams and Ferguson exited with guns, and that he saw Adams and Mitchell talking prior to the shooting as indications that Postell knew a robbery was going to take place.
In an interview with investigators, Adams denied being involved, and said he didn’t know Mitchell. When he was shown a photo of himself sitting in the BMW with Ferguson and Postell, which was taken at a Taco Bell just prior to the shooting, he denied it was him, Montford wrote. Investigators said Adams’ grandmother positively identified him in the photo.
An autopsy determined Mitchell died from a gunshot wound to the torso, according to the affidavit. Adams, Postell and Ferguson remain held at the Orange County Jail.