PANAMA CITY — One teenager from a trio of young Panama City men accused of firing on a crowd and grazing a 16-year-old girl has been re-arrested for armed robbery, according to court documents.
Michael Vernon Porter III, 19, was arrested Wednesday on charges of armed robbery after nearly a month-long investigation by Springfield Police.
Police said Porter and other people approached a man in the 200 block of Claire Avenue on Dec. 17 at about 8:30 p.m. Porter and company allegedly came up from behind the victim, brandishing a firearm. Leveling the gun on the victim, the crew stole an EBT card, Florida identification, a digital camera, $7 and a cellphone, police reported.
Porter has been charged with armed robbery in connection with the incident, but he also faces charges on another firearm offense for which he’d only recently been released from custody while awaiting trial.
Porter is one of a trio of young men to allegedly fire on a crowd of people on Kurze Avenue in September when bullets grazed two people. Porter, Damarius Mimms, 19; and Jakorey Shivers, 19, were arrested in connection with the shooting.
According to their arrest affidavits; Mimms, Porter and Shivers were armed in the 10th Street and Kurze Avenue area on Sept. 21 when they began shooting at citizens in the roadway. A bullet grazed a 16-year-old girl’s hand and an adult man’s leg. Once the three men opened fire, the crowd fled in terror, police reported.
All three were charged with discharging a firearm in public and aggravated assault following the incident. Authorities have yet to disclose a motive in the shooting. Each has entered a plea of not guilty.
Shiver is being held without bond for failing a drug screening in December. Mimms posted a bond of $35,000 Thursday after a Bay County judge denied a bond reduction to “be home to help pay the bills and help keep the household in order,” he wrote the court.
Porter is being held on a $50,000 bond. His alleged accomplices in the December armed robbery were not identified by police reports.