The driver then left the apartment complex, ran a red traffic light and collided with another vehicle at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Conservation Trail.
The driver continued north on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The woman driving the second vehicle was transported to Fort Walton Beach Medical Center with serious injuries.
According to the FHP, the suspect appeared to be a young white or Hispanic male with dark hair and an average build.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Florida Highway Patrol at 850-245-1407 or by dialing 347. Citizens can also leave tips by contacting Emerald Coast Crimestoppers at 850-863-TIPS, at Emeraldcoastcrimestoppers.com or by using the P3 Tips Mobile application.
“It was Identity Thief, I will never forget the movie,” Forest said.
She looked all over the house but couldn’t find it. Matthews told her he would come back about 10 or 10:30 p.m. when her husband got off work. He never showed.
“A little after midnight is when me and my husband got the call that he got shot and was at the hospital and was going to die,” Forest said.
Matthews was living at the Rene Lynn Apartments on Woodham Street. Previous reports state that two Black men knocked on his door about midnight. When Matthews opened it, the men came in and shot him in the upper body.
The teen victim, identified as Quolee Jackson, had suffered a gunshot wound to his chest and was unconscious as his parents were attempting to drive him to a nearby hospital.
Deputies immediately began to render lifesaving measures until EMS arrived and transported the victim to Fort Walton Beach Medical Center, OCSO reported. Jackson was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly before midnight.
With assistance from the Fort Walton Beach Police Department, OCSO deputies searched for evidence and witnesses overnight and continued their investigation into Tuesday. Our investigators are working relentlessly, Sheriff Eric Aden said in the news release. Aden also asked that the community show compassion amid the tragic incident and come together to bring more information to light.
A then 17-year-old Bethany suffered a broken and dislocated tibia that resulted in a severed peritoneal artery, which cut off blood flow to her left foot. She was taken to Fort Walton Beach Medical Center, where she spent a month in the hospital and had 12 surgeries between there and UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, where doctors were unable to save her left leg.
James has since healed from a broken pelvis and back although he is convinced most of his leftover pain today can be attributed primarily to old age.
Now, eight months later, Bethany can walk to class.
“That just felt like such a big accomplishment to me to do stairs,” she said.