Hamilton County Sheriff's Office addresses shooting with triple homicide suspect in Manatee County

Lina Portman2 weeks ago

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JASPER, Fla. (WWSB) – While traveling more than 200 miles north to Manatee County, suspected shooter Javontee Brice died in a shooting in Hamilton County.

“We are a small county. So to cover the entire county, I only have two deputies at night,” Hamilton County Sheriff Harrell Reid said.

Reid said the two deputies were looking for Brice. According to the sheriff's office, deputies heard from the Manatee County Sheriff's Office that the last place Brice's cell phone rang was in Gainesville. Reid continued to explain that his deputies calculated the distance and time, then positioned themselves on I-75 where they could spot Brice's vehicle.

Reid said they believe Brice knew he was being followed and left the highway and drove alone to the Mobile gas station on U.S. 129 South.

“The suspect fired and it was just by the grace of God because, well, three of the bullets went through the driver's side window of one of my patrol cars and the deputy was right behind him himself that door,” Reid said.

The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office has asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate. According to Reid, evidence collected by the FDLE at the scene showed 40 to 50 bullets were fired. Brice died during the shooting.

Kelton Allen posted a video on the social media platform TikTok showing the aftermath of the shooting.

“Even though this incident didn't originate here, it still impacted our community because it ended in a shooting and everything else. These kinds of things affect everybody,” Allen said.

Reid stressed that he was more than proud of his deputies who he said performed flawlessly. Something Reid said he hated to say under the circumstances with a deceased person.

“They were there, risking their lives. So they didn’t shoot until they were shot at,” Reid said.

According to the sheriff's office, both deputies are on leave and receiving counseling for PTSD.