Man kills 3, including mom and cousin, before dying in shootout
A tragic shooting spree unfolded in Manatee County on Monday night. As a result, the deaths of three women took place. Those include the perpetrator’s mother and cousin. Javontee Brice, 28, embarked on a violent rampage, targeting loved ones and attempting to kill two of his ex-girlfriends, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.
The series of events began just before 9 p.m. when Brice visited the Palmetto Trace apartments where his sister and ex-girlfriend, the mother of one of his children, resided. He threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend but was talked down by his sister, leading him to leave the scene.
At approximately 9:17 p.m., Brice went to a Motel 6 in Bradenton where his mother, her boyfriend, and his two young sisters were staying. He entered their room, apologized to his 48-year-old mother, and then shot her dead after she questioned his actions.
By 9:40 p.m., Brice had reached the 900 block of 26th Street Court East in Palmetto, where his 29-year-old cousin was attending a cookout. He shot her as she was getting into her vehicle. Despite life-saving efforts by Palmetto Police, she died an hour later in the hospital.
Brice’s spree continued at 10:04 p.m. in Bradenton, where he fatally shot the new partner of another ex-girlfriend.
Fearing further violence, authorities issued a statewide BOLO (Be On the Lookout) for Brice’s vehicle as he headed toward Georgia to target another ex-girlfriend. Hamilton County deputies located and stopped his car near the Florida-Georgia state line at around 1:30 a.m. Brice exited his vehicle and opened fire on deputies, who returned fire, killing him. No deputies were injured in the exchange.
Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells stated:
“We don’t know a motive. We don’t know what set this man off. We don’t know why he chose to kill his loved ones. And we may never know, but we’re going to continue to investigate.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is assisting in the investigation to uncover more details about this tragic series of events.
Source: Fox 13
