ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — A license plate reader in St. Johns County helped catch a murder suspect wanted in Georgia.
On April 12, St. John's County Sheriff's deputies were looking for a stolen car.
"The license plate reader originally hit in the area of Interstate 95 and State Road 207 so that’s why we were looking for this stolen car," said Sheriff Robert Hardwick
Minutes later, they received a call about a man who had been shot, that's where they found the stolen car they were looking for but the driver took off sparking a police chase. The chase ended in a crash at S.R. 207 and County Road 305.
Hardwick said his deputies were able to apprehend the suspects inside the stolen car.
"This particular case we were in the area looking for the stolen car with that stolen tag on it. We were physically engaged in looking for that vehicle next the thing you know we get a shots fired or a person actually shot in the area of Cypress Lakes then we go and work on two separate crimes," Hardwick said. "We are professionally aggressive but with that we use all of our assets and that’s where our air unit came into play, our multiple K-9 units where we had an apprehension involved."
Fitzroy Ellis, Dovanni Small and Travion Washington, all 18, were arrested in connection to the chase.
Sheriff Hardwick said Ellis was wanted for a murder in Georgia that happened in March.
According to the city of Vidalia Police, he is facing two counts of felony murder and five counts of aggravated assault in the connection to the deaths of 23-year-old Justin Godfrey, 18-year-old Iesha Wicker and her unborn baby.
"In this case, it’s a murder suspect so we’re very careful to not impede on their investigation, give them the first right of refusal on wanting to come interview. So that’s that partnership we have," said Hardwick. "We treat them the same way we want to be treated of course if we have suspects out of our jurisdiction."
Ellis is now facing charges in both Georgia and Florida.
"Multiple victims in this across two different states from these five individuals’ actions," said Hardwick.
Five individuals were inside the stolen car. One of them complied with police and was released. Another person is still in the hospital in critical condition following the crash and Ellis, Small and Washington are in the custody of the St. John's County Sheriff's Office tonight.