SRT enters wrong home in fugitive hunt

The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office's Special Response Team will undergo an internal investigation after squad members entered the wrong apartment while hunting for a shooting suspect, the Sheriff's Office announced Thursday.

Investigators will determine "what, if any, corrective action needs to be taken," said Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Michele Nicholson.

The incident occurred late Wednesday after deputies obtained an arrest warrant for 32-year-old Anthony Brown, the main suspect in an Aug. 25 shooting and robbery on Vincent Avenue in Fort Walton Beach.

Brown was considered a violent fugitive.

But two buildings at his address at 97 Jose Road in Florosa are "nearly identical," according to a statement from the Sheriff's Office. The Special Response team entered the wrong one just before midnight.

"The team quickly retreated and entered the appropriate apartment, leading to Brown's arrest," Nicholson said.

A husband and wife were inside the first apartment. They were uninjured and hadn't filed a formal complaint Thursday, Nicholson said.

Chief Deputy Mike Coup said the internal investigation would "determine the facts surrounding the incident."

It came days after Bay County sheriff's deputies entered the wrong home on an alarm call in Panama City Beach. There, deputies stopped a 19-year-old man in his underwear before eventually realizing they were at the wrong address - and the alarm in question was going off across the street.

The Okaloosa mix-up did not prevent deputies from arresting Brown. He faces felony charges for armed robbery, aggravated battery, possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The shooting victim, Antonio Jackson, had already given investigators a detailed account of the robbery. He said a man had reached through his truck window Aug. 25, snatched $22 from his lap and escaped as a passenger in a black Pontiac Grand Prix.

Jackson drove after the car and caught up with it on Vincent Avenue, according to an arrest report. When he got out to confront the robber, he said Brown and the passenger emerged from the car with guns drawn.

After a scuffle, Jackson went to the ground, heard a gunshot and then realized he'd been wounded, he told deputies.

Another victim in the robbery said he heard three gunshots. He had been robbed of about $45.Jackson identified Brown in a photo lineup.

Also at Brown's apartment was 23-year-old Stephanie Renee Stoudmire, who faces drug charges.

Another man from 97 Josie Road, 32-year-old Ritney Terrell Fain, was arrested Wednesday on Racetrack Road for possession of cocaine. He drives a black Grand Prix, according to his arrest report.

Brown was being held at the Okaloosa County Jail on Thursday.