Suspected getaway driver in murder of three-year-old is arrested

Suspect Demarius Wilson’s two-month escape has come to an end after a Plant City police officer stopped a car Monday night, found Wilson trying to hide inside and arrested him.

Lakeland Police Chief Sam Taylor said Wilson, 22, was the getaway driver in a parking lot robbery in north Lakeland in March that left a 3-year-old boy and Wilson’s twin brother dead and a third man injured.

A Plant City police affidavit states that an officer observed a silver sedan with broken taillights at East Baker and North Wheeler streets and turned on the lights and siren. However, the sedan sped away, turning onto North Wheeler and braking erratically before coming to an intersection and stopping in a darkened area. The officer called for backup when he wanted to speak to the driver.

The affidavit states that Wilson was hiding in the back floor behind the driver’s seat when Plant City police stopped the car around 9 p.m. Monday night. The officer gave Wilson’s name and noted that he was wanted. Both Wilson and the driver, Keundai Wilson, were arrested and remained in the Hillsborough County Jail Tuesday. It is not clear whether they are related.

The shooting occurred March 11 at the Cambridge Cove Apartments, which is bordered by I-4 to the south, Kathleen Road to the west and Mall Hill Road to the north.

The toddler’s mother, Yeimarie Baez, 21, and her boyfriend Robert Einzig, 23, had been visiting friends at the apartments along with Baez’s two children, a three-month-old daughter and three-year-old son Jaquez Norton.

The four were driving away in a red Toyota RAV4 when a white Dodge Challenger pulled up in front of them and blocked their path. The entire incident was captured on doorbell cameras.

Then, Taylor said, 22-year-old Kemarius Wilson got out of the passenger side of the Challenger with a handgun and approached Baez, who was sitting in the driver’s seat of the RAV4.

Taylor said witnesses reported hearing Baez shouting that her children were in the car, but it was unclear whether the shooters heard them. He said it was possible the attackers did not know the children were present.

Kavarius Green, 30, got out of the Challenger with a rifle and approached Einzig, who was sitting in the passenger seat of the RAV4 and also had a legally purchased rifle and a handgun.

Green allegedly pushed the barrel of the gun into the passenger window of the RAV4 and Einzig grabbed it, causing the two to fight over it. The gun fired, injuring Einzig.

Baez grabbed her young daughter from the middle back seat and fled when Einzig fired back with his pistol.

Green then ran to the front of the car and fired the rifle several times into the front of the RAV4, Taylor said. Jaquez was then immediately shot.

At the same time, Kemarius Wilson ran around the back of the RAV4 and was struck by Green’s bullets.

Both Green and Kemarius Wilson got back into the Challenger, and Demarius Wilson drove the vehicle away from the scene, south on Kathleen Road, ending up at the home of a relative of the Wilsons in the 800 block of West 14th Street. Taylor said Kemarius Wilson was removed from the passenger seat of the Challenger, placed in another car and driven to Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Officials said Demarius Wilson then drove the Challenger to the 800 block of West Crawford Street, parked it between two houses, partially covered it with a black tarp and fled.

According to WTSP, Green turned himself in to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office on March 19, accompanied by his attorney. Green was wanted on two counts of first-degree murder, namely shooting into an occupied vehicle and attempted first-degree murder.

No record of Green could be found at either the Hillsborough County Jail or the Polk County Jail. Wilson’s affidavit shows he was also wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Both could face charges in connection with the March 11 shooting.