Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Staff Reports

Two Atmore men have been arrested in connection to a fatal shooting Monday night in Pace, Fla., according to reports.

According to reports, Joseph Liebe, 24, was in the area of Wallace Lake Road off Quintette Road, and was allegedly shot while driving away. Liebe’s vehicle crashed into a nearby wooded area.

James J. Quartise, 20, has been charged with murder I, and Marcus T. Dickinson, 29, has been charged with murder II. Both are being held in the Escambia County Detention Center in Brewton awaiting extradition back to Santa Rosa County, Fla.

SRSO investigators interviewed the suspects in Brewton.

During a Thursday morning press conference, Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson said that a motive isn’t known, but investigators believe it was a robbery. Johnson said there was no evidence of any drug activity, but it is believed the suspects had some sort of contact with Liebe earlier in the day and knew he might be been carrying money.

Shortly after the murder, deputies received a basic description of the suspect vehicle as a maroon Tahoe. That vehicle was later traced to Atmore, where search warrants were served on the vehicle and at the residences of both suspects.

Johnson said that social media rumors that this was some sort of gang activity are not true.

“There is no gang activity,” the sheriff said. “We don’t have any evidence to link this to gang activity.”

Johnson thanked the Atmore Police Department and the Escambia County (AL) Sheriff’s Office, including Sheriff Heath Jackson, for their assistance.