PALM BAY, Fla. – Nearly a year after a man was shot to death in Palm Bay, an arrest has been made in the case.
Palm Bay Police Department officials said Larry Eugene Bell Jr., 36, is now facing charges in connection with the fatal shooting of 61-year-old Bobby Knight Jr. on Agora Circle on Nov. 5.
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Bell was taken into custody shortly after the shooting on unrelated charges and was initially called a person of interest, but he has now been identified as the suspect in the case.
According to an arrest affidavit, 61-year-old Knight was found dead in a read Jaguar around 2:20 a.m. with multiple gunshot wounds on his body.
Surveillance video from Agora Circle showed a vehicle arrive in the area and park at 1:12 a.m. then, a few minutes later at 1:16 a.m., the red Jaguar pulls up next to it, records show. Police said at 1:18 a.m., the suspect vehicle drove away.
Knight’s cellphone was searched and police said they determined that Bell called him at 1:06 a.m. and they spoke for more than three minutes then at 1:10 a.m., Bell called Knight and they spoke again, this time for four minutes.
A search warrant was executed at the home where Bell had most recently slept and a .40 caliber bullet that had bee cycled through the same gun as the spent casings at the crime scene was found in Bell’s room, records show.
Police said cellphone tower data also led them to determine that Bell was in the area at the time of the shooting.
During an interview in April, Bell said he knew Knight because they used to live together and said that the two spoke on the phone that morning about drugs, according to the affidavit.
Records show Bell denied meeting or killing Knight.
He’s facing charges of second-degree murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was already at the Brevard County Jail on unrelated charges when he was presented with the new charges on Wednesday.