MELBOURNE, Fla. – In May, a shooting in downtown Melbourne began as an argument in a bar and ended with three gunshot victims — the initial shooter among them — being dropped off at a nearby hospital, according to police.
The victims’ arrival caused a stir, with some Melbourne officers already there and waiting for people to begin showing up with injuries as other LEOs responded to the scene on East New Haven Avenue.
Two people were arrested at the hospital, identified as Orlendo Green and Deonte Jones, who had transported two of the gunshot victims for treatment. Green and Jones were not identified as shooting suspects and rather went on to face charges of resisting officers, police said.
According to an affidavit for his arrest warrant, 36-year-old Nathaniel Spates, Jr., was identified as the third injured individual and as a shooter in the May 6 incident.
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The three shot showed up at the hospital one-at-a-time in a Buick, an Altima and an Infiniti, respectively. Spates was in the Altima, which police said bore two other individuals; Spates’ girlfriend rode as a passenger and another woman drove the car, according to police.
While Spates was being helped into the emergency room, his girlfriend allegedly pointed toward Green and Jones to tell police the two were involved in the shooting, what led to their respective takedowns as Spates went in for surgery unimpeded.
In the affidavit for Spates’ arrest warrant, which was filed Monday evening, detectives outlined the most detailed series of events to date of what was believed to cause and stem from the shooting.
According to the document, one of the victims had spoken with and allegedly hugged Spates’ girlfriend at Fiesta Bar and Grill, recounting interactions with “an unknown female” in talks with police.
Around 1 a.m., an altercation believed to have involved Spates and the victim who allegedly spoke to his girlfriend prompted the bar staff to close up early. Now standing outside of Cottonways, a nearby clothing store, Jones, Green, two women — one of whom was celebrating a birthday, which served as the reason for the group having gone out — and the two other victims were approached and shot at by Spates, police said.
The woman who drove Spates and his girlfriend to the hospital claimed to otherwise be a bystander, but police said that she willingly concealed a .38 caliber revolver and a 9mm Glock pistol in her purse, both being guns that investigators believe Spates used in the shooting.
As far as how Spates was injured, Police believe Jones followed and shot him with a revolver out of camera view after Spates shot the two others. Still, Jones only faces a charge of resisting an officer without violence, records show.
Police said Jones drove one of the victims to the hospital in the victim’s Infiniti and that Green drove the other victim to the hospital in a bystander’s Buick. That bystander had agreed to let Green drive his vehicle and later consented to submitting it as evidence, police said.
Spates faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon and two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, records show.
Judge Katie Jacobus denied him bond Wednesday during his first appearance at the Brevard County jail.
And as Spates stays in jail without bond, Melbourne’s mayor said the city is continuing to work on a new law that would set up curfews for businesses downtown.
Mayor Paul Alfrey said that ordinance will go before the city council at a future meeting.
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