11-year-old called 911 to report her grandmother and 2 other women were fatally shot, sheriff says

LAWTEY, Fla. (WCJB/Gray News) - The Bradford County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a triple homicide in the Lawtey area after a child called 911 to report the deadly shooting.

Three women were killed and the suspected gunman is in custody, according to officials.

Sheriff Gordon Smith said his deputies responded to a home on Northeast 17th Avenue in Lawtey after a 911 hang-up call was made around 2 a.m. on Tuesday.

Deputies found 46-year-old Bernard Johnnie Brown at the house walking in the front yard with several cuts on his body.

An 11-year-old girl came out of the home and told deputies her grandmother and two other women were dead. Deputies found the bodies of the women inside with gunshot wounds.

A bullet also grazed the child, the sheriff’s office said.

Brown was taken to the hospital for treatment of his injuries before being taken to the Alachua County Jail. He was transferred back to Bradford County on Tuesday afternoon.

Brown is charged with three counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

Smith says additional charges are likely to be added as the investigation continues.

Family members at the scene identified the victims as the child’s grandmother, 49-year-old Qaunique Robinson, and her two daughters, 27-year-old Danesha Sims and 25-year-old Wynshay Roddey.

The girl is the daughter of Robinson’s son, according to family members.

Robinson and Brown were dating, according to authorities.

Family members say they are brokenhearted.

“The girls, every time I would see them out, they were having a good time,” said Yolanda Jones, a cousin. “And most of the time, if I didn’t see them out, they were with their mama you know. They looked just like their mama.”

“Waking up this morning and hearing that phone call, it was unbelievable. It broke my heart,” said Keisha Cruger, a cousin by marriage.

Investigators are working to determine exactly what happened before the shooting. They say an argument that occurred Monday is a likely factor.

Officers say several 911 calls were made in the early morning hours. In a recording of the call, the 11-year-old victim can be heard screaming.

“We received a 911 from this phone number is everything okay?” the operator called back and asked.

“No, come now!” the girl told the operator.

“What’s going on?” the operator said.

“Come now, just come,” the girl replied.

Smith says he woke up in the middle of the night to get to the crime scene.

“This is an emotional scar that will live with this child forever,” the sheriff said. “And the victim’s family, which is a large family, as they gather, trying to put it all together. The biggest question is why, and that we still don’t know.”

Smith is a Lawtey native and says the entire community knows the victims.

“It’s a sad, tragic moment for a quiet community and everybody here, from our agency and that community, all know the victims,” he said. “We know the suspect. We’re all quite knowledgeable about who they are, and it’s kind of shaken the community.”

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