Police searching for driver believed to be involved in Lakeland shooting

LAKELAND, Fla. — Lakeland police are searching for the driver of a white 2014 Dodge Challenger, who was believed to be involved in Monday’s shooting at an apartment complex that left two people dead, including a 3-year-old child.

According to Lakeland police, the shooting happened just after 6:30 p.m. at the Cambridge Cove Apartment Homes just off Kathleen Road in Lakeland. Lakeland Fire Department and Polk County Fire Rescue all responded to the scene, along with Lakeland police.

Lakeland Police Chief Sam Taylor said that four people were found on the scene in a 2023 Toyota RAV4, which included the 3-year-old, along with the child’s mother 21-year-old Yeimarie Baez, her 3-month-old child Jaquez Norton, and 23-year-old Robert Einzig. Einzig suffered from a gunshot wound that was not life-threatening, and the mother and her 3-month-old were not injured, police said.

Taylor said that the Lakeland Police Department began receiving reports after arriving that the white 2014 Dodge Challenger was also involved.

Taylor said that Einzig, the mother and her children were at Cambridge Cove to visit a friend. While attempting to drive out of the complex, the white Dodge Challenger approached head on and blocked them from leaving, police said. Twenty-two-year-old Kemarius Wilson got out of the passenger side of the Dodge Challenger with a handgun and approached the driver’s side of the RAV4 where the mother was sitting behind the driver’s wheel, according to authorities.

Police said an unidentified male got out of the driver’s side of the Dodge Challenger with a rifle and approached Einzig, who was also armed with a rifle and a handgun, on the passenger’s side of the RAV4.

Police said that at some point, words were exchanged and gunshots followed, and Einzig returned gunfire with his handgun while the mother fled the vehicle after grabbing the 3-month-old from the backseat.

Both men ran back to the Dodge Challenger and left the scene southbound on Kathleen Road, according to Taylor.

Police said that the Dodge Challenger then drove back to a relative of Wilson’s at the 800 block of West 14th Street, where Wilson was placed into a private vehicle and transported to Lakeland Regional Health, where police were then notified. Wison was declared deceased at the hospital.

Lakeland police said the evidence they have so far is the Dodge Challenger, which was located in the 800 block of West Crawford Street by Lakeland patrol units.

“We didn’t receive a phone call from anyone. Patrol officers just happened to be driving through the area, noticed something suspicious sitting between two houses, could see a vehicle because it was covered up,” said Taylor.

They got out, and it was the white Dodge Challenger that Lakeland police were looking for.

Police said the resident at that address was very cooperative, and that the vehicle was seized and is in the lab being processed. The RAV4 is also at the station being processed, police said, adding that the vehicle that transported Wilson to the hospital was also seized and is being processed.

Authorities said at the scene, police recovered 19 .223 caliber spent casings and nine 9mm spent casings.

Multiple cell phones have also been seized for downloading and processing, police stated.

Detectives are also canvassing for video at the scenes.

More than 25 officers and detectives responded to the scene of the shooting. Police said it appears that all the people involved in the incident knew each other.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Det. Cory Lawson at [email protected] or 863-834-8975.

Anonymous tips can be sent to Heartland Crime Stoppers at 1-888-400-TIPS or the Heartland Crime Stoppers website.