Video, DNA, fingerprints used in pair of arrests
Second man is facing charges in fatal shooting
Two men are now facing firstdegree murder charges in connection to a fatal shooting that occurred last month at a West Palm Beach apartment complex.
Police took Terneal Smith, 21, of West Palm Beach into custody on Wednesday in the Feb. 21 shooting death of 19-year-old Jeanariun St. Fort at the Lake Mangonia Apartments on North Australian Avenue.
Officers previously arrested Damario Jones, also 21 and of West Palm Beach, in connection to St. Fort’s death.
Smith refused to appear for a hearing on Thursday at the Palm Beach County Jail. Circuit Judge Donald Hafele assigned him an attorney from the state Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel and ordered that he be held without bail.
On Feb. 27, Hafele assigned Jones a public defender and ordered that he be held without bail and have no contact with St. Fort’s family. The Palm Beach County Public Defender’s Office does not comment on active cases.
The Lake Mangonia Apartments complex, near 25th Street north of Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, was the site of a separate fatal shooting in January and has been the focus of recent efforts by city police to address violence in the community.
Police hosted a community pop-up party there on Feb. 17 in an effort to meet residents and discuss ways to make the complex safer.
“We’ve been working with the property owners. We’re engaged with the community and the community is stepping up,” police spokesman Mike Jachles said in a video conference with reporters last week.
“Our ultimate goal is to eliminate the problems from this property.”
Investigators say Smith and Jones were involved in a scuffle with St. Fort moments before they both shot him.
According to Jones’ arrest report, officers responded to the complex just before 11:15 a.m. Feb. 21 and found a man lying in the hallway and suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The man, identified as St. Fort, died at St. Mary’s Medical Center.
Surveillance-camera video captured a silver Ford Escape fleeing to a neighboring complex shortly after the