PLANT, Fla. (WFLA) — A 23-year-old Plant City man faces more than 100 years in prison after firing a weapon at a car, and striking a nearby home.
Pasco County Sheriff’s Deputies and the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Barron Marion, 23 on Oct. 24, after Plant City police identified him as the man seen in a security camera video running after a car and firing several shots at it.
Plant City Police Chief Richard Mills said it’s not clear who was in the car, or why Marion was shooting at it.
Izeal Cooper was at home on Oct. 16 and heard the shots fired.
“Yes, I heard the gun shots fired,” Cooper said. “I was in the house, like I said, and I heard about three or four gunshots fired, and then the police came.”
He said he’s tired of the gun violence in his neighborhood.
“Well, it’s time for them to clean it up, to clean it up for that gun violence,” Cooper said. “We don’t need that here. This place was a pretty decent town for years, but some of these young men are off the chain now and they going to have to be stopped.”
Plant City has a new police chief, and he said he will now focus on violent crimes and crimes involving guns.
“We are focusing on violent crime in Plant City, and if you utilize a gun, if you brandish a gun, if you shoot at somebody or you shoot at a house or a car, we are going to find you,” Mills said. “We are going to arrest you.”
This is not the first time Marion has been arrested. He was convicted for killing a man in 2019 after an argument over a bike.
“Mr Marion was 17 years old when he shot and killed the person he was in an argument with over that bike,” Hillsborough County State Attorney Susan Lopez said.
She said Marion will now face charges of violation of probation, shooting into or at a vehicle, shooting into a home and discharge of a weapon in public. He also faces charges of being a felon in possesion of a firearm.
“He’s facing 105 years in the Florida State Prison for the new charges,” Lopez said.
She says as a 17-year-old, Marion was given a light sentence for murder and then put on probation, she said that will not be the case this time.
“If you make an adult decision with a firearm, you will be held accountable,” Lopez said.
