PANAMA CITY — No murder charges will be filed in connection with a May double homicide that presaged a string of summer shootings, Police Chief Scott Ervin said.
That’s because one of two men gunned down at a Millville gas station has been identified as the instigator of the fatal shootings, according to Panama City Police Department officials.
Police have released new information from the late-May shooting that left Xavier M. Buckler, 23, and Marqueze McGhee, 25, dead.
Gunshots rang out at about 2 a.m. in front of the EZ Petro, 1307 E. Fifth St., after which three men suffered gunshot wounds. Frederic Jones, 22, and Antonio West Jr., 24, were arrested in connection with the shooting, but police recently released more details in the shooting.
According to Chief Ervin, it is unlikely murder charges will be filed against the survivors of the fracas since the man police believed to have instigated the shooting died.
After an altercation at the gas station early on May 26, four men pulled pistols but only two walked away.
“Buckler shot and killed McGhee, and he was subsequently shot and killed by West in defense of McGhee; therefore, charges could not be sought on Buckler,” Ervin said. “West was charged with felon in possession of a firearm. … It is unlikely that (murder) charges will be pursued.”
West still faces firearm possession charges.
Another victim, 26-year-old Dalreco Franklin, was treated and released from a local hospital for a gunshot wound to the leg. Police later charged Jones with aggravated battery with a firearm, which they said occurred when Franklin was shot in the leg.
Franklin was released without charges being filed.
According to his arrest affidavit, Jones drew a small handgun during an altercation at the Petro. Police said video and witness accounts identify Jones as discharging the handgun about three times afterward, hitting Franklin once in the leg. West also is accused of displaying a small-caliber handgun during the altercation.
Both men also were charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm or ammunition.
The shooting was the first in a wave of gun-related violence spanning three months that claimed the lives of six young men.