TITUSVILLE, Fla. – Police arrested a Titusville man on a murder charge two weeks after a shooting left one person dead, according to court records.
D'Ante Anderson, 21, of the 1000 block of Bahama Street, was charged with first-degree murder Friday after the Aug. 11 shooting death of 27-year-old Denathan Carter at the Park Villas apartments on South Park Avenue, News 6 partner Florida Today reported.
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Police said Anderson parked his car near the apartment complex around 12:30 pm., walked up an unused road and then climbed through a gap in a fence near a cemetery in the area.
Anderson then saw Carter climb through the same gap in the fence before pulling a 9 mm handgun from his waistband and firing over a dozen rounds, according to Titusville police.
As he was running away from the scene of the shooting, Anderson dropped a T-shirt on the ground, detectives reported.
Crime scene technicians collected the shirt as evidence before sending it to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab for testing. Police reports said the results came back as a match for Anderson.
During interviews with police, Anderson initially denied being at the Park Villas apartments, saying he'd loaned the discarded T-shirt to a friend, according to arrest reports.
He then changed his story and told police Carter had threatened him in the past. He told police he shot Carter in self-defense after seeing him reach for a weapon. He said he fired several rounds as he ran away from the victim.
Police said the evidence contradicted his statements; shell casings were close together, not spread out as if he had been running. Autopsy reports also indicated the victim had been shot "execution-style" in the back of the head from close range.
Anderson was arrested Friday after a traffic stop. He also was charged with possession of cocaine and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
He is being held at the Brevard County Jail without bond.