Early-morning shooting outside market leads to homicide charge for Belle Glade man, 26
BELLE GLADE — A 26-year-old Belle Glade man is facing a first-degree murder charge following a fatal shooting in the city last month.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office alleges that Tony Huggins shot and killed a man outside a market along Southwest Sixth Street early on the morning of Oct. 22.
The sheriff's office did not identify the man who died. It said his family invoked its right to privacy under a 2018 amendment to the state constitution allowing crime victims or their families to withhold their names from public reports.
Circuit Judge Kirk Volker ordered Huggins to be held without bail during a brief hearing Wednesday at the Palm Beach County Jail. The Palm Beach County Public Defender's Office is representing Huggins. As a policy, it does not comment on open cases.
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Huggins' arrest report said the shooting took place just before 5 a.m. in the parking lot of Bobby’s Market, just north of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Surveillance cameras captured footage of Huggins entering and exiting both the neighborhood and the store, according to the arrest report.
As he entered the store, cameras captured Huggins concealing an item under his arm, which investigators later learned was a handgun, according to the report.
Huggins passed the other man, who was walking out, and the two shared a fist bump before separating, according to the video. The sheriff's report said there was no signs of “apparent issues” between the two men.
The man Huggins is accused of killing then approached a white Chevrolet Tahoe SUV at the northeast corner of the store, where a group of men had gathered.
Huggins drove south away down Southwest Sixth Street in a white Lexus SUV after leaving the store but returned two minutes later, slowing down as he approached the Chevrolet SUV, according to the video footage. The man who died stood there with the group of men around the SUV's open trunk.
According to the arrest report, Huggins drove behind the white Chevrolet and the to the side of it. The surveillance cameras showed him rolling down his window and then several people running from the area, including the man who died.
Huggins' vehicle, which investigators say was stolen, then fled from area. according to the arrest report. Deputies recovered it the next day near South Grade Elementary School in Lake Worth Beach.
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Bullet casings found at scene, in SUV help lead to arrest, PBSO reports
Another person drove the man to Lakeside Medical Center in Belle Glade with a single gunshot wound. Doctors then flew him to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, where he was pronounced dead at about 7 a.m., the PBSO report said.
The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner's Office determined the unidentified man died by a single gunshot wound, investigators said.
PBSO said it searched the Lexus on Oct. 23 and found a spent 40-caliber casing that matched nine similar one deputies found on the roadway of Southwest Sixth Street and Southwest Avenue C Place. Investigators said they were fired from the same gun.
Kaylei Oliver is a news reporter for The Palm Beach Post you can reach her at Kthompsonoliver@gannet.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Belle Glade man facing murder charge after fatal shooting near market
