{"id":22704,"date":"2013-07-22T16:25:03","date_gmt":"2013-07-22T20:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=22704"},"modified":"2013-07-22T16:25:03","modified_gmt":"2013-07-22T20:25:03","slug":"family-dollar-murder-suspect-arrested-in-orlando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=22704","title":{"rendered":"Family Dollar Murder Suspect Arrested In Orlando"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY IRIS B. HOLTON<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sentinel City Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>With the exception of jumping out of an emergency window to avoid capture, police arrested 23-year-old Demetrius Parks <\/strong>without incident. He reportedly slept on the ride from Orlando to Tampa and was booked into the Hillsborough County jail on Saturday, July 20th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Parks<\/strong> is being held without bond. He is charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. This marks his fifth arrest since being released from Florida State Prison March 31, 2012.<\/p>\n

Parks<\/strong> is accused of fatally wounding Mr. Horsley \u201cJ. R.\u201d Shorter, Jr.,<\/strong> during an armed robbery of the Family Dollar, 4900 N. 40th<\/sup> Street. On Sunday, July 14th<\/sup>, he allegedly approached a clerk in the store, and demanded money. Mr.<\/strong> Shorter, <\/strong>49, <\/strong>who was one of the store <\/strong>managers, was in the office and observed the robbery in progress.<\/p>\n

Police said the gunman shot Mr. Shorter<\/strong> and then forced the clerk into the parking lot at gunpoint. He attempted to place the clerk in the trunk of his own vehicle, but the clerk pleaded with him. The suspect eventually closed the trunk and drove off in the man\u2019s 1995 Mitsubishi Mirage. The car was later located Sunday night in the 2500 block of E. 38th<\/sup> Avenue.<\/p>\n

Ms. Laura McElroy,<\/strong> spokesperson for the Tampa Police Department said, \u201cWe were working with the U. S. Marshal\u2019s Task Force and during the investigation we learned that Parks<\/strong> had fled to Atlanta. We also learned that he had boarded a Greyhound bus in Atlanta, and was heading to Lakeland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the bus stopped in Orlando, members of the Task Force surrounded the bus. As they started to search, he jumped out of an emergency window and was captured,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Parks<\/strong> was not armed at the time of his arrest and police are still searching for the handgun used in the murder.<\/p>\n

Ms. McElroy<\/strong> said although tips from the community were invaluable in the investigation, it does not look like anyone will collect the $16,000 reward that was being offered.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community played a critical role in this case from the very beginning of this murder. Within minutes of the car being abandoned, a citizen called, and that was very useful in this investigation. Once we released the photograph from the video, we had a multitude of calls to help identify him. It worked the way it was supposed to.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Ms. McElroy<\/strong> credits \u201cold-fashioned police work\u201d with the apprehension of Parks.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\u201cI believe people were outraged by the murder. It was so ruthless, and the community played an important role in helping to catch him. But there was no tip about <\/strong>him being in Atlanta or Orlando,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The investigation into the murder is continuing.<\/p>\n

Family Relieved<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mrs. Trinetta Shorter-Williams<\/strong> said the family was relieved when they were informed about the arrests. \u201cWe feel better that he has been captured and that he is off the streets,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Popular In Community<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr. Shorter <\/strong>was well known by patrons of the store where he had worked for the past 4 years. His friends and employees alike referred to him as \u201cJ. R.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

He was born in Reynolds, Georgia, the 7th<\/sup> of 8 children born to Mrs. Hattie Shorter,<\/strong> and the late Mr. Horsley Shorter, Sr. <\/strong>When he was 6 years old, his family relocated to Tampa.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>He graduated from Tampa Bay Technical High School in 1981, and entered the U. S. Army and later transferred to the U. S. Air Force. After dedicating 26 years of his life to the military, Shorter <\/strong>retired.<\/p>\n

When his father died in 2009, Mr.<\/strong> Shorter<\/strong> returned to Tampa to care for his mother, and obtained employment at the Family Dollar Store.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t married and didn\u2019t have any children of his own, but he was dedicated to his family.\u00a0 He enjoyed hanging out with his friends, playing softball, football, and going to the gym.<\/p>\n

Funeral services for Mr. Shorter<\/strong> will be held on Saturday, July 27th<\/sup>. Aikens Funeral Home is in charge of handling arrangements.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor With the exception of jumping out of an emergency window to avoid capture, police arrested 23-year-old Demetrius Parks without incident. He reportedly slept on the ride from Orlando to Tampa and was booked into the Hillsborough County jail on Saturday, July 20th. Parks is being held without bond. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22704\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}