By By Janet Little Cooper
The B.B. gun bandits that left a trail of broken glass from Pensacola to Atmore in a weekend shooting spree in early July are now behind bars.
Officers with the Santa Rosa Sheriff's Department arrested the suspects Aug. 2 after a joint investigation involving the Atmore Police, and Escambia County, Alabama and Florida sheriff's offices led them to the two subjects.
Kevin Enfinger, a 21-year-old white male of Pensacola and Justin Monk, age and address unknown, remain in the Santa Rosa County Jail facing charges of criminal mischief and property damage stemming from the July 8-9 shooting spree incidents reported in Santa Rosa County.
According to reports, at least five reports were filed in Santa Rosa County of windows being shot out of vehicles in the area.
The first wave of shootings occurred Saturday night (July 8) the Pensacola, Fla., where Sgt. Mike Ward of the Escambia County Sheriffs Department said that more than a dozen windows were shot out of parked vehicles.
"The incidents began Saturday night, with numerous reports coming in of vehicles having their windows shot out," Ward said. "We had approximately 100 different incident reports come through our office from as far as Gulf Beach Hwy to Cantonment, Fla.,
According to Ward, the spree spanned two nights as the vandals made their way through the county shooting windows out of vehicles and tractors from Pensacola, Fla., to Bratt, Fla.
The APD and the Escambia County, Ala. Sheriff's Office got involved when the suspected vandals crossed the Florida line into Atmore.
According to reports, they continued traveling into Atmore shooting the windows out of tractors at Smith Tractor located on Highway 31 just out of Atmore where one of the suspects was previously employed.
"One of the suspects arrested was a former employee of our Atmore store," Smith Tractor owner Ricky Smith said. "He was not terminated. He left sometime ago on his own accord and has even come back in several times to visit with everyone. He left the company on good terms and had no ill will toward anyone. I really didn't know him personally. I saw him on occasion but was never around him enough to say whether or not I was shocked about his actions or not. We certainly didn't feel as if we were singled out due to numerous amounts of incidents all around us. It looked as if they shot whatever was convenient for them."
Following the Smith Tractor raid the suspects managed to shoot at least one of the large plate glass windows to Buster's Restaurant causing it to be replaced, according to owner Johnny Gibbs.
Then the brand new vehicles that lined the front row of the Chuck Steven's parking lot were easy prey for the vandals as they continued down the highway shooting windows. Hendrix Tractor Company on Hwy. 21 north of Atmore lost four store front windows as well as windows to five tractor cabs and a company pickup truck.
The two were arrested without incident and two B.B. air rifles were recovered from Enfinger's vehicle. Monk told officers that Enfinger had two B.B. air rifles and a B.B. handgun in the bed of his truck and he (Monk) did not shoot out any of the Santa Rosa County windows.
Enfinger told officers that he, Monk and another unidentified person were riding around in his truck.
According to Enfinger's statement, Monk was in the front passenger's seat shooting the B.B. air rifle out the window constantly. He also recalled stopping his truck because of mechanical problems and Monk getting out of the truck with the B.B. air rifle where he then shot out the windows of several construction vehicles in Santa Rosa County.
"I am not sure how long Santa Rosa will be holding the suspects," ECSO Ward said. "They do however, have a hold on the suspects for us once they are released. Before releasing them, we will be contacted and will go to Santa Rosa and transport them back to the Pensacola jail where they will then face the more than 100 charges we have against them."