Pedestrian Struck By Vehicle Early Tuesday Morning In Molino
May 24, 2022
A pedestrian was seriously injured when he was struck by a vehicle early Tuesday morning in Molino.
It happened about 3:40 a.m. on Highway 29 at the intersection of Molino Road.
An male in his mid-20s was struck by a passenger car. He was transported to a Pensacola hospital by Escambia County EMS. The driver of the vehicle was not injured.
The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Century Man Previously Convicted Of Manslaughter Gets 45 Years For Possessing Handgun, Probation Violation
May 24, 2022
A Century man previously convicted of manslaughter has been sentenced to 45-years in state prison for a gun he tried to hide in a Cantonment liquor store.
Jaran Britt Myles, 27, was sentenced by Judge John Simon for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and violation of his probation on a 2015 conviction for manslaughter with a firearm.
Myles was indicted by an Escambia County grand jury on murder and battery charges for a November 2020 triple shooting that left one man dead and two others injured. Myles was indicted on one count of first degree murder for the death of Joseph Christopher Smith and two counts of aggravated battery for two others that were shot and survived for a shooting in the 8200 block of Alger Road in Century.
After receiving a tip a few days later, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office caught up with Myles as he walked out of the Liquor Cabinet on Highway 29 at Old Chemstrand Road in Gonzalez. Deputies gave him loud verbal commands, but he turned and walked back inside the store. The deputies drew their service weapons, entered the store and continued to give loud verbal commands. Myles entered one of the aisles and made movements near products on the shelf before placing his hands and surrendering, an arrest report states.
Myles removed a handgun from sweatshirt and attempted to hide the gun on a store shelf. The incident was caught on surveillance video.
At age 21, Myles pleaded no contest and was sentenced to prison for manslaughter with a firearm for the January 31, 2015, shooting death of 20-year old Jonathan Ray Wilson on Backwoods Road in Century.
In 2015, a witness told deputies that “Run Run”, later identified as Myles, pulled out a gun and asked him if he was scared of it before taking the magazine out of the weapon and pointing it at him. Myles then pulled the trigger of the gun, without the magazine, but it “dry fired”, he said.
The witness said Myles then pointed the gun to Wilson’s head after loading the magazine back into the gun. Wilson then adjusted the height of the gun to his head, “correcting the placement of the gun pointed at him”. The witness said when Wilson let go of the gun, Myles pulled the trigger and shot Wilson in the head.
As a high school sophomore, Myles was a member of the 2012 state champion Northview High School football team and was named “Mr. Versatile” during a team awards banquet.
Pictured: A 2020 triple shooting scene on Alger Road in Century. One person was killed, and two others were injured. Pictured below: The scene of a January 31, 2015, fatal shooting on Backwoods Road in Century. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Cantonment Lodge Hosts First Responders Breakfast
May 24, 2022
Cantonment Masonic Lodge #322 hosted their Second Annual First Responders Breakfast Saturday morning, serving about 50 first responders and their families. They plan to hold the breakfast for years to come and are looking forward to a veterans luncheon later this year. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Jim Allen Elementary School Names Students Of The Month
May 24, 2022
Jim Allen Elementary School recently named Students of the Month. They are Khale Moore (left) and Skylar Thurber. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Tate High Beta Sponsor Stacye Litton Receives National Award
May 24, 2022
Stacye Litton of Tate High School recently achieved national recognition for her work as a National Beta sponsor after being named a 2021-2022 John W. Harris Educator of Excellence.
Named after the organization’s founder, the national award speaks highly of a sponsor’s commitment to celebrating their student’s achievements through National Beta and illustrates their dedication to preparing them to become leaders. To qualify for this award, sponsors must have focused on club growth by achieving National Beta School of Distinction and School of Merit status. They must have committed to leadership and character development by bringing students to National Beta events. They also must have focused on the National Beta motto, “Let Us Lead by Serving Others”, by leading their club to earn a National Beta service hour award.
“It’s been a privilege to be Tate High School’s Beta Club sponsor these past 12 years,” Litton said. “Whether we’re working with Miracle League, Manna Food Bank, or the Escambia Sheriff’s Office Toy Drive, I love seeing the students’ joy in helping the community. We always strive to live out the Beta Club motto ‘Let Us Lead by Serving Others’.”
Only 175 of 20,000 Beta sponsors received the John W. Harris Educator of Excellence award, the highest offered to club sponsors.
Lunar Astronaut Candidates Train at NAS Pensacola
May 24, 2022
Seven NASA astronaut candidates are undergoing flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola as part of a two-year training pipeline to prepare them for participation in the Artemis lunar exploration program.
The NASA Astronaut Candidate Basic Aviation Curriculum (ASCAN BAC) is administered by Training Air Wing Six (TW-6), which is responsible for the training and production of the Naval Flight Officers (NFOs) who serve as navigators, sensor operators, Weapons System Officers, and Electronic Warfare Officers inside naval aviation.
“ASCAN training is only conducted every three to four years and is very condensed compared to Student Naval Flight Officer training,” said TW-6 Ground Training Officer Mr. John Boman, who oversees the ASCAN training at NAS Pensacola. “ASCANs are in class up to 12 hours per day, or they are scheduled for two flight events per day.”
The ASCAN BAC is designed for candidates without prior military aviation training. It aims to provide students with the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to safely aviate, navigate, and communicate in preparation for follow-on training and responsibilities as NASA flight crew.
“Given the mental aptitude of these individuals, our instructors are able to introduce and practice procedures and skill sets at a quicker pace, which allows us to meet NASA specified training timelines. They have been a pleasure to work with, and knowing that TW-6 helps to put them into space is very rewarding,” said Mr. Boman.
The class includes United States candidates Christina Birch, Andre Douglas, Deniz Burnham, Christopher Williams, and Anil Menon, who were chosen from a field of more than 12,000 applicants, as well as international candidates Nora Al Matrooshi and Mohammad Al Mulla of the United Arab Emirates.
Upon arrival at NAS Pensacola, the ASCANs underwent a one-week Aviation Physiology and Aircrew Water Survival training conducted by the Naval Survival Training Institute. They then began the 10-week ASCAN BAC, which is divided into two stages, familiarization and instrument navigation.
The familiarization stage is comprised of ground school, four simulator events, and five flight events in the T-6A Texan II turboprop trainer aircraft. The instrument navigation stage is comprised of ground school, six simulator events, and six flight events also flown in the T-6A.
Several of the ASCANs are now completing flight events in the instrument navigation stage.
According to police helicopter pilot Mohammad Al Mulla, Navy Aircrew Water Survival Training was a new challenge despite his 15 years of flight experience.
“It was a really good challenge. I felt like after accomplishing Water Survival I’m more comfortable flying, even offshore. I felt really good after passing. I’m really glad to be here and learning from the Navy,” Al Mulla said.
Dr. Anil Menon, who has served as a flight surgeon for NASA, Space X, and the U.S. Air Force, says he is grateful for the quality of training provided by the Navy.
“I did general aviation and I’ve paid for myself to learn how to fly and learn from instructors, but I’ve never encountered instructors as good as the Navy instructors that I’ve worked with. I’ve just learned that there’s a next level to aviation, so it really opened up a lot of doors for me and I’m grateful for those teachers,” Menon said.
In addition to safe operation of a jet aircraft, ASCANs have four major categories of training including operating and maintaining the International Space Station’s systems, preparing for spacewalks, developing complex robotics skills, and Russian language skills.
Deniz Burnham, who serves as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserves and holds degrees in chemical and mechanical engineering, says as the team nears the end of their training at NAS Pensacola, they look forward to the next challenge.
“We’ll be moving on to the T-38 back in Houston. The T-6 training gave us a good baseline for crew resource management, checklist discipline, procedural recall…this is kind of the foundation to being a value-added team member, and we all look forward to moving on from Pensacola back to Houston,” Burnham said.
The Artemis program aims to put the next man, first woman, and first person of color on the moon in 2024 and to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon by the end of the decade. These accomplishments will in turn prepare humanity for the next step of solar exploration: sending humans to Mars.
story by Ensign Lyndsay Ballew
Pictured: NASA astronaut candidates Christina Birch, Andre Douglas, Deniz Burnham, Christopher Williams, Anil Menon, Nora Al Matrooshi and Mohammad Al Mulla stand beside a T6-A Texan II at Naval Air Station Pensacola. The astronaut candidates began Basic Aviation Curriculum at Training Air Wing Six in late March as part of a two-year training pipeline in preparation for serving the Artemis space exploration program. Photo by Ensign Lyndsay Ballew for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Tate Aggies Get Spring Game Win Over W.S. Neal
May 24, 2022
The Tate Aggies defeated W.S. Neal 31-12 in their Spring Game at Pete Gindl Stadium.
If you are ready for some more Aggie football, you’ll have to wait until August and even longer for action at home. Tate will open the 2022 season August 26 with three straight weeks of road games at Catholic, Pine Forest and Pensacola. The first home game will be September 9 as Tate hosts the Northview Chiefs.
For more Tate spring game photos, click or tap here.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Jennifer Repine, click to enlarge.
‘Angered’ Sheriff Fires Deputy After Man Dies In ECSO Custody
May 23, 2022
Describing himself as “angered’ over body cam footage, Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said Monday that he has terminated a newly-hired probationary deputy involved in the death of man in ECSO custody last Friday.
Deputies responded to a call of an individual acting erratic and potentially suffering from a mental health episode at Beverly Parkway and W Street, next to the Victor Randall Stadium at the Brent Athletic Park. He was taken into custody for a mental health evaluation.
The suspect was placed into the floor of the ECSO cruiser head-first where he was monitored by deputies that decided a few minutes later to remove him from the vehicle.
“He stood there for a period of time, but his medical condition deteriorated quickly,” the sheriff said. EMS was called, and the man was placed in a “recovery position” on his side.
“I wish that we would have done things better. I think that we can do better than what we did on Friday afternoon,” Simmons said. “I’m not saying that what I saw was criminal in nature. What I’m saying is that we have a set of standards, and anything that happens below those standards is unacceptable. When I saw the video and I saw some of the interactions that they had, quite frankly it angered me. This is not what we train our deputies to do; this is not the expectation that I have for our deputies.”
“This level will be adhered to at all times,” he continued.
“I can’t ignore what I see on our body cameras. I can’t ignore actions that fall below our standards.”
While limited in his comments by the ongoing investigation, he did say those standards involve a level of compassion.
“I think that we have a duty to care for the people that are in our custody or that we engage with,” he said. “I think that there were some things that we could have done. I think the fact that we put him on the floor of the cruiser car and he ended up on his stomach in the floor of the cruiser car, to me, is unacceptable….I think that we could have done better, and I wish that we had done better.”
The sheriff said the man’s cause of death has not yet been determined, and he was not saying that the deputies’ actions led to his death.
Simmons said the body camera footage cannot be released by his department due to an open FDLE investigation.
Any disciplinary action, the sheriff said, against the other two deputies involved in the incident will be determined by the outcome of the concurrent ECSO and FDLE investigation. The names of the deputies involved have not been released.
It is expected to be weeks, or even months, before the investigation is completed.
One Charged With Murder After Highway 29 Circle K Shooting; Victim Identified
May 23, 2022
One person was shot and killed at a convenience store at Highway 29 and West Roberts Road Monday morning during an argument about the victim’s wife.
Sheriff Chip Simmons said 35-year old Charles Tyree Moore is charged with second degree murder for the shooting death of 35-year old Durrell Dupree Palmer. Simmons said there had been “interaction” between the individuals going back two years. He said they had an argument over Palmer’s wife about two weeks ago. She was not involved in the incident Monday morning.
“During a conversation that they had actually at the Circle K ended up escalating and ended up in gunfire,” Simmons said Monday afternoon.
Both men were at the Circle K at Highway 29 and West Roberts Road about 7:30 Monday morning when Moore pulled a handgun and fired four or five shots at Palmer, according to the sheriff. The incident occurred outside the store near the gas pumps at the southern end of the parking lot.
Moore fled the scene, but called the ECSO and told them that he would be stopping and placing the gun in the glovebox of his vehicle. Deputies took him into custody within minutes on Palafox Street at Nine Mile Road.
The sheriff said Moore had no criminal history and held a concealed weapons permit.
According to our news partners at WEAR 3, Palmer was a father, community activist and local business owner involved in the Black Lives Matter efforts in Pensacola.
Pictured above and below: A man was shot and killed at the Circle K at the corner of Highway 29 and West Roberts Road about 7:30 Monday morning. Pictured first below: The suspect was taken into custody minutes later on Palafox Street at Nine Mile Road. Photos by Jason Robbins/WEAR 3 and others for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Plans Show Escambia County’s First Wawa Store May Be Located Beulah
May 23, 2022
Beulah may get the first Wawa location in Escambia County.
Plans have been submitted to the Escambia County Development Review Committee for a 5,550 square foot Wawa store at 5251 West Nine Mile Road, on three acres of an 18-acre parcel on the northeast corner of the intersection with County Road 99.
A conceptual drawing indicates that the store would have not only eight fuel pumps, but also electric vehicle charging stations.
About a month ago, NorthEscambia.com first reported that the popular convenience store chain was looking to expand in Escambia County.
In 2022, Wawa will mark the 10th anniversary of the opening of its first Florida store. The store opened July 18, 2012, in Orlando across from SeaWorld. Since then Wawa has expanded rapidly throughout the state and will open its 250th store in Florida later this year. Today, Wawa employs almost 10,000 associates across the Sunshine State.
The project is in the pre-application process before the Escambia Development Review Committee and would go through several additional steps before any construction could begin.