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Police have finally caught up with Davion Parson nearly a month after a Florida nightclub shooting that left the selectors of the Poison Dart sound system and a friend dead.
Parson, who was born in Jamaica, was arrested by the Jamaica Fugitive Apprehension Team in Kingston on Monday and will be extradited to the U.S.
The 19-year-old was wanted in the May 24 shooting deaths of Tampa disc jockeys Antone Neely and Michael Rattigan, and Kevin Webster, an associate of the pair, at the Thunderbird Inn.
The Jamaica Constabulary Force and the U.S. Marshal's Service helped with the international investigation, Sherriff Grady Judd of Polk County said. "I am proud of the hard work and dedication that was displayed by this team of law enforcement officers."
Warrants charging Parson with three counts of first-degree murder were issued earlier this month following the shootout at the reggae night club. Shortly after the incident, investigators learned that Parson had borrowed $140 in cab fare from his mother and boarded an international flight from Orlando bound for the Caribbean islands.
"They have been on the trail since day one," PCSO Chief W.J. Martin said of federal investigators.
Monday's arrest in Kingston came from a tip, Martin said.
"They got a call saying he was at this one place," he said. "And when they showed up, he was there."
Throughout the investigation, U.S. Marshals were on Parson's trail, often finding they were a day behind. About two weeks ago, investigators found a vacant apartment in Kingston where Parson had been staying, Martin said. His passport and other personal belongings were there, but he wasn't.
"He was hiding out and they were just one step behind him," Martin said.
May's Auburndale shooting stemmed from an incident at the Thunderbird Inn earlier that month, where two men argued over a microphone at a 40th birthday party that Rattigan had been hired to work as a DJ, sheriff's officials have said. The incident caused a fight that ended up with a friend of Parson being stabbed in the buttocks.
That night, deputies responded to the emergency call, but when they arrived, no one had seen or heard anything, officials said.
During the next few weeks, Parson became obsessed about the incident, sheriff's officials said, and, ultimately, it led to the deaths of the three men, two of whom were not involved in the original altercation.
During the early hours of May 24, Neely, 29, of Tampa, was shot in the right shoulder, and Webster, 29, of Deltona, was shot in the left shoulder. Both died at the Thunderbird Inn.
Rattigan, 35, of Riverview, was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center, where he died of a gunshot wound on the left side of his back.
The two DJs were widely known in the Tampa area, going by the stage names Tony Montana, who was Neely, and Chris Rock for Rattigan.
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