PANAMA CITY — A victim of a Craigslist advertisement turned armed robbery said he was certain the charges against two Panama City men fit the crime of attempting to kill a person.
Patrick Tipton, one the robbery victims, said he wasn’t traumatized by the experience; he was more angered by the way events unfolded.
“The thing that gets me is someone coming up from behind and hitting you,” he said, “but they should be charged with attempted murder. I saw it in their eyes. They were killers.”
Three other people have been arrested in connection with what investigators said was an orchestrated, broad-daylight robbery of two unsuspecting people who were expecting to retrieve a sectional couch advertised on Craigslist. Most recently, police arrested the men they believe carried out the robbery: Detonio “Black Boy” Dixon, 26, and Keith “K-dog” McCray, 23. The men face several charges, including armed robbery and attempted felony murder, the Panama City Police Department reported.
PCPD responded to 716 W. 13th St. at about 3:30 p.m. Friday for a call about an armed robbery. Officers said Dixon and McCray laid in wait behind the corner of a building after the two victims had paid $800 for the couch and began loading it onto a truck.
Tipton said he’d bent over to pick up the last piece of the couch when he felt the butt of a pistol come down on his head. He fell to the ground and two men armed with pistols — one also with a baseball bat, the other with a machete — encircled him and his female friend he’d offered to help pick up the couch, he said.
“But when he hit me, it must’ve jarred the trigger mechanism, so it couldn’t fire,” Tipton said. “Both times he pointed it at me the clip kept falling out.”
Police reported McCray pulled the trigger twice, but the gun did not discharge. Both men demanded money and cellphones from the victims. McCray ordered Dixon to shoot Tipton while he searched the female victim’s pockets and bra for money, police reported.
Tipton said he threw the little money in his pockets on the ground at their feet, but the female victim already had given all her money up for the couch. He said while one man searched the truck for other property, he was trying to divert the other’s attention long enough to gain an advantage.
“I wanted to get the gun away from him and get them away from her,” Tipton said.
All the while, Tipton saw five other residents in the area come outside to find out what was going on. No one rendered help, though, he said.
Three other people have been arrested in connection with the incident, police said. PCPD reported the arrests of Heather Mae Bytell, 25, and Kayla Marie Crowder, 25, for allegedly planning the sale of the couch. The two women also enlisted the two men to carry out the robbery, police said.
In addition, the two women were charged with dealing in stolen property, since the couch itself had been reported stolen.
Ivory De’Andre Broxton, 25, also was charged with accessory after the fact to armed robbery, police reported.
Dixon is being held on a $175,000 bond in the Bay County Jail. McCray is being held without bond for the numerous charges against him.
Tipton said he suffered a concussion and received several staples to his head injury. He’s also had to miss work following the incident, he said.