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17-year-old accused of fatally shooting, robbing man in Orlando

Justin Copeland held on no bond

Justin Copeland, 17 (Orange County Corrections)

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A 17-year-old boy booked Thursday into the Orange County Jail is accused of fatally shooting and robbing a man in Orlando earlier this year, records show.

Justin Copeland faces charges of second-degree murder with a firearm and robbery with a firearm in the shooting death of Robert Bowen, a man in his 50s who was shot and killed March 21 in Orlando’s Signal Hill neighborhood, according to the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office.

Orlando police responded around 3:49 a.m. March 21 to a shooting reported along Watch Hill Road, where Bowen was located suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, the department said in a statement. Bowen was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

In a court filing, the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office said Copeland had shot Bowen, inflicting his death, and had taken Bowen’s wallet and/or payment cards. No further details of an investigation were available at the time of this report.

At his first appearance in court Friday morning — the case having been transferred from juvenile court — a judge ordered that Copeland be held on no bond.

News 6 is naming and showing Copeland due to the circumstances of the case.


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