LAKELAND, Fla. — A 3-year-old sitting in the back seat of his mother's car was among two people killed in a shooting Monday evening in Lakeland, according to Lakeland Police Chief Sammy Taylor.
Speaking during a news conference Tuesday morning, Taylor said officers arrived within two minutes of being dispatched following a call of shots fired in the area of 1850 Cambridge Cove Circle.
Law enforcement found four people inside a 2023 Toyota RAV4. In the back passenger seat, 3-year-old Jaquez Norton was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators determined a 3-month-old child was in a car seat in the back middle seat at the time of the shooting.
The kids' mother was in the driver's seat, and a 23-year-old man suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to his lower body while seated in the passenger seat, officials said.
Another man was dropped off at a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
"This was a horrific night last night, as you can imagine," Taylor said. "Anytime anyone's killed, but particularly a 3-year-old who was still in the vehicle, it was awful. My heart goes out to the parents...it also goes out to my officers and detectives that had to work that stuff and see these things."
A team of 25 detectives, crime scene analysts and other experts investigated through the night into what led up to the shooting, according to Taylor. He said their focus is now trying to locate who was driving a white 2014 Dodge Challenger.
Investigators said the four people in the RAV4 were at the Cambridge Cove Apartments visiting a friend. While they were trying to leave the complex, Taylor said the Challenger blocked them in head-on, preventing the car from being able to exit.
Based on interviews with the victims, detectives believe 22-year-old Kemarius Wilson got out of the passenger side of the Challenger and approached the driver's side of the RAV4 with a handgun, while another unidentified man got out of the driver's side of the Challenger and approached the passenger side of the RAV4 with a rifle.
The group got into an argument, and the suspect that police are currently searching for reportedly stuck the rifle through the passenger seat window. He and the man seated in the RAV4 fought over the rifle, according to the chief. The man with the rifle broke away and went toward the front of the car, where he began shooting directly into the RAV4 through its windshield, police said.
Investigators who examined the 3-year-old boy who was shot and killed determined he likely died in that round of gunfire.
"I don't think they knew children were in the back, even though there's some indication that when the mother exchanged conversations with them as they approached the car, she screamed, 'My kids are in the car. My kids are in the car!'" Taylor said. "Now, whether Kemarius and this other unknown individual heard that, we don't know that...I don't think they knew, or if they did, they didn't care."
The police chief also said the man in the passenger seat began to return fire at the shooter using a handgun, striking Wilson. Police found 19 casings from a .223-caliber rifle and nine casings from a 9-mm handgun.
The mother in the driver's seat was able to get out of the car, remove the 3-month-old from the back seat and run for safety, according to Taylor.
He said Wilson and the driver of the Challenger returned to the car and drove to the home of Wilson's relative, where Wilson was put into a different car that dropped him off at Lakeland Regional Health, where he died. A patrol officer later found the white Challenger parked between two houses with a black tarp covering it.
Taylor said investigators believe the adults knew each other, but are still working on figuring out the motive behind the shooting as well as the identity of the man driving the white Challenger.
There is currently a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspect. Anyone with information is asked to call the Lakeland Police Department at 863-834-6900.