BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A three-month investigation into the shooting of two people in Grant-Valkaria has resulted in a man’s arrest out of South Carolina, identified as the son of one of the victims, according to Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey.
Sean Bigwood was arrested last week and is being extradited to Brevard County to face charges of burglary with battery, armed burglary of a conveyance with a firearm and two counts of attempted premeditated murder with a firearm, Ivey said in a video statement on Friday.
According to Ivey, deputies responded shortly after 11 p.m. on Feb. 15 to a residence in the area of Puddle Duck Lane after two male subjects called 911 to report they had been shot multiple times. The callers reported that a lone suspect — dressed in all black, including a ski mask — had fired shots from the back patio into the residence, according to the statement. Both victims were taken to the hospital where they eventually recovered from their injuries, the sheriff said, adding evidence gathered from the scene indicated the shooter had fired more than 30 times.
“One of the callers stated that he believed the shooter was his son based on the stature of the shooter and a recent property dispute that was taking place between the two of them,” Ivey said, describing the other victim as the father’s friend who was there visiting. “...For the next three months, agents from our General Crimes Unit, assisted by our Crime Scene Unit and crime analysts, painstakingly reviewed hours of surveillance footage between the victim’s residence and the suspect’s residence in South Carolina.”
Multiple search warrants issued for electronic information on Bigwood enabled investigators to build a timeline showing that Bigwood unexpectedly left his job the morning of Feb. 15 before driving eight hours to Grant-Valkaria and immediately returning, otherwise purchasing various materials such as different-looking wheels to temporarily change the appearance of his vehicle. A Brevard County warrant was then signed by a judge for Bigwood’s arrest regarding attempted murder, Ivey said.
“Bigwood was subsequently arrested — for the attempted murder of a family member and another male — last week in South Carolina by our agents with assistance from the York County Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina. Bigwood is currently being extradited back from South Carolina and should arrive at our less-than-accommodating jail facility in a very short period of time,” Ivey said. “Following the arrest of Bigwood, our agents and the York County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at the suspect’s residence and seized several items of significant evidence connected to the ongoing investigation.”
Interviews and evidence bolstered the theory that the shooting was the result of the above-mentioned property dispute, according to the sheriff. Ivey went on to thank all involved in the investigation for “an amazing job at following the trail of evidence right to the front door of the suspect.”
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