SANFORD, Fla. – After a man was shot to death outside a Sanford Best Buy store last month, police have now announced three suspects in the investigation.
In a release on Thursday, police said they had taken two of the suspects — Khalil Hunter, 22; and Shunavious Dorsey, 21 —into custody on charges of robbery with a firearm and first-degree murder.
Meanwhile, police added that they’d secured an arrest warrant for the third suspect — identified as James Nelson, 22 — who is wanted on the same two charges.
According to the police department, officers responded to the Best Buy store along Rinehart Road on the night of Dec. 18, discovering 21-year-old Terance Darnell Pope injured in the parking lot.
Police say it appears the incident was over a transaction involving electronics.
“No life is -- no electronic has an equal value to any life. And whatever the disagreement was or whatever caused them to change their mind, it definitely wasn’t worth it,” said Deputy Chief Trekelle Perkins.
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Pope’s family and friends later told News 6 that Pope hailed from DeBary and had played college football at Davenport University up in Michigan.
However, police announced that they are still searching for Nelson’s whereabouts.
“The pain that Terance’s family is feeling is a pain that no family should feel,” Police Chief Cecil Smith said on Thursday. “If you know something about the location of this criminal, you need to speak up now. These three suspects did not hesitate to take Terance’s life; they all need to be located and taken off our streets.”
News 6 obtained arrest affidavits for Hunter and Dorsey that reveal detectives believe the victim was talking to one of them before they planned to meet near the Best Buy store.
Officers recovered text messages from the victim’s phone that shows Hunter and Pope discussed a deal to exchange cell phones and an iPad.
Perkins said once the group met in the parking lot, Pope was robbed and killed.
“It seems that Terance Pope was going to possibly purchase electronics from three individuals, and they knew that he would have money,” Perkins said. “They didn’t engage in the transaction. They robbed him.”
According to the affidavit, someone even called a tip line after the shooting and said Pope had “expressed fear that the suspect was trying to ‘set him up.’”
Nelson spoke with officers about the case before a warrant was also issued for his arrest.
He initially told detectives his friend Hunter told him about the deal involving phones and it sounded “suspicious,” according to an affidavit. He claimed he stayed in the car while Hunter and Dorsey met with the victim. After he heard shots, the pair came back to the car and reportedly told Nelson the victim had pulled a gun on them, so they had to defend themselves, the affidavit states.
Perkins told our News 6 team Friday that they haven’t determined if Pope was armed.
Investigators say Nelson later changed his story and admitted he drove the car away from the shooting scene, according to the affidavit.
Sanford police stopped Hunter in that same car, which is registered to him, on Dec. 26 near Celery and Mellonville avenues for failing to signal. The affidavit states they searched the car and found parts of a firearm that Nelson claimed he gave Hunter before the shooting.
“We believe all three played equal involvement in this,” Perkins said.
Anyone with information on Nelson’s whereabouts is urged to contact the police department or Crimeline at (800) 423-8477.
Calls to Crimeline can be made anonymously, and tips that help investigators solve homicide cases are eligible for up to $5,000 in cash.
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