Sheriff: Man arrested in South Carolina and accused of killing two people, including his father, in Grant-Valkaria

BREVARD COUNTY, Florida. – A three-month investigation into the shooting of two people in Grant-Valkaria has led to the arrest of a South Carolina man identified as the son of one of the victims, according to Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey.

Sean Bigwood was arrested last week and extradited to Brevard County, where he faces charges of burglary with assault, armed burglary of a conveyance with a firearm and two counts of attempted premeditated murder with a firearm, Ivey said in a video statement Friday.

According to Ivey, officers responded to a call to a residence in the Puddle Duck Lane area shortly after 11 p.m. on Feb. 15 after two male suspects called 911 to report they had been shot multiple times. The callers reported that a lone suspect – dressed all in black, including a ski mask – had fired shots into the residence from the back patio, the statement said. Both victims were taken to the hospital, where they eventually recovered from their injuries, the sheriff said, adding that evidence collected at the scene indicated the shooter had fired more than 30 times.

“One of the callers stated that he believed the shooter was his son due to the shooter’s stature and a recent property dispute between the two,” Ivey said, describing the other victim as a friend of the father’s who was visiting. “…Over the next three months, agents from our General Crimes Unit, assisted by our Crime Scene Unit and crime analysts, reviewed hours of surveillance footage between the victim’s residence and that of the suspect in South Carolina.”

Several search warrants issued for electronic information on Bigwood allowed investigators to build a chronology showing that Bigwood unexpectedly left work on the morning of Feb. 15, drove eight hours to Grant-Valkaria and immediately returned. He also purchased various materials, such as different-looking wheels, to temporarily alter the appearance of his vehicle. A judge then signed an arrest warrant for Bigwood in Brevard County on attempted murder charges, Ivey said.

“Bigwood was subsequently arrested last week in South Carolina by our agents with assistance from the York County Sheriff’s Office of South Carolina for the attempted murder of a family member and another man. Bigwood is currently being extradited from South Carolina and should arrive at our less than accommodating detention facility in a very short time,” Ivey said. “Following Bigwood’s arrest, our agents and the York County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at the suspect’s residence and seized several key pieces of evidence related to the ongoing investigation.”

Interviews and evidence supported the theory that the shooting was the result of the aforementioned property dispute, the sheriff said. Ivey went on to thank everyone involved in the investigation for “an amazing job of following the trail of evidence to the suspect’s front door.”

The headlines of the day in a few minutes with Your Florida daily newspaper: