from the Panama City News Herald
82-year-old shoots, kills robber; 3 women charged
By JON MILTIMORE / News Herald Writer
2009-07-22 17:54:15
BRISTOL — Octavious Barnes died Sunday still clutching the $1,100 he took from an 82-year-old bar owner before he was shot.
Now, three Blountstown women accused of helping Barnes, 24, face murder charges in connection to his death.“
As we were processing the crime scene, it became clearer and clearer he (Barnes) didn’t do everything himself,” Liberty County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Brigham Shuler said Wednesday.Jessica Nicole Long, 19; Heather Marie Ammons, 22; and Mandy Allen, 43, planned and aided Barnes in the robbery of 82-year-old Bradley Harvil, owner and operator of the Slip N’ Slide bar, Shuler said.
On Sunday, authorities said Barnes broke into Harvil’s house, which is connected to the bar, and demanded money. Shuler said Barnes was waving a black pistol and assaulted Harvil with a shocking device used to debilitate people with heart conditions.
Harvil gave Barnes about $1,100, but then a second struggle ensued, authorities said. Harvil was knocked over and a TV set fell on top of him, but Harvil was able to reach his own gun, a .357 magnum. He fired twice, hitting Barnes once in the chest and a second time in the eye.
The second shot killed Barnes, Shuler said. Only later was it learned Barnes had robbed Harvil using a toy pistol made to look like a real weapon.“
He had blackened the gun with a magic marker,” Shuler said.