Sheriff announces arrests in Preserves of Oslo shooting
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Two physical education teachers from Indian River County Elementary School were arrested after entering the wrong apartment and one ended up in a stranger’s bed resulting in an altercation and a shooting, Sheriff Eric Flowers said Monday.
The shooting took place just after 4 a.m. on October 10 in the Oslo reservations.
Darius Cohen and Akkua Hallback, both 26, were arrested last week. Cohen was a physical education teacher at Indian River Academy, while Hallback taught physical education at Sebastian Elementary School. They have since been fired.
Flowers said the shooting victim told detectives he woke up with Hallback entering his bed and Cohen exiting his bathroom before a scuffle ensued in the parking lot.
According to testimony from Cohen and Hallback, the suspects told detectives they were out drinking when Cohen accompanied Hallback to a woman’s apartment at the Oslo Preserves.
Flowers said Cohen waited outside the woman’s apartment for several hours while Hallback was inside. At one point, however, Cohen had to use the bathroom, so Hallback came out to escort Cohen inside the apartment.
âExcept they got into the wrong apartment,â Flowers said.
As the victim attempted to get the strangers out of his home, there was a scuffle in the parking lot and surveillance footage showed Cohen chasing the victim before four shots were heard just off camera, Flowers said.
WATCH: Surveillance video shows victim fleeing from shooter
Surveillance video shows suspect chasing after victim on reservations in Oslo shooting
Cohen and Hallbeck fled after the shooting, but anonymous public disclosure after surveillance video of the suspects was released ultimately led to their arrest, the sheriff said.
Flowers said Cohen initially told detectives a different story.
âHer side of the story was that they were fighting over the gun and it blew up,â Flowers said.
Indian River County Superintendent Dr David Moore said Cohen and Hallback were laid off last week.
âWe have an expectation for employees in our school district, whether inside the classroom or in the community.⦠Sadly, these two people have significantly fallen short of that expectation,â Moore said. .
Moore said these were new teachers who had just started at the start of the school year.
“There is no place for this in our school system,” he said. “There is no place for it in our community.”
The victim, whose three children were at home at the time, was treated in a hospital and has since been released.
Cohen faces a charge of attempted murder. Hallback faces a charge of possession of a controlled substance.
Scripps content only 2021
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