PANAMA CITY, FL (WDNews) — A 7-year-old child was shot during an incident in Bay County last week, and two people have been taken into custody.
On August 9, deputies were called to complaints of shooting along 15th Street in Panama City, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office. Officials discovered shortly after that a 7-year-old had been shot and brought to a local hospital. The incident started when Sammie Lee Underwood III, 39, confronted his ex-girlfriend in a public place, according to investigators. Deputies said that after she left with her kids, Underwood followed in his car, tried to drive them off the road, and then started shooting, hitting the toddler in the back seat. The infant is currently on the mend after the woman drove to the hospital for emergency care.
Underwood abandoned his car in Callaway and ran away. next the issuance of warrants, he was found the next day by the U.S. Marshals Service, SWAT team, and the sheriff’s office Criminal Investigations Division while conducting a vehicle takedown. He is now facing several charges, including aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, discharging a firearm from a vehicle into an occupied vehicle, tampering with evidence, grand theft of a firearm, hit-and-run, and drug possession. According to deputies, he was in possession of narcotics, including hydrocodone, OxyContin, methamphetamine, and marijuana.
Additionally, Ricki Brown, 31, of Panama City, was taken into custody by deputies on suspicion of assisting Underwood in evading capture by transporting him out of the area, letting him stay at her house, and assisting with the disposal of the gun used in the incident. Brown faces charges of being a criminal in possession of a firearm, violating probation, possessing less than 20 grams of marijuana and fentanyl, and accessory after the fact to a second-degree felony.
Investigations into the case are still ongoing.
