For Immediate Release

Pensacola, FL – A man who was wanted by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office in connection with the Oakcrest Lounge shooting in late October which resulted in the death of a Pensacola man was captured earlier today by the U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force. The suspect, 22 year-old Marvin Jamel Smith was arrested without incident by Task Force Investigators with help from Pensacola Police task force members, Escambia Patrol Units and investigators from the A.T.F. The Task Force has been working with Investigators from the Sheriff’s Office relentlessly for the past several weeks trying to apprehend Smith after he was identified as a suspect.

“We kept at it pretty steady. Every time we tried to catch him we would miss him, but eventually the circle around him got smaller and smaller and we closed in on him,” said U.S. Marshals spokesperson Investigator Dominic Guadagnoli.

Following many leads and doing a lot of surveillance finally paid off today at about 3:30 when the Task Force spotted a vehicle he was known to be traveling in around the Wedgewood part of Pensacola. The Task Force requested assistance from Escambia Patrol and Pensacola Police and quickly caught up with the car after it pulled into a driveway of a house on West Hope Drive in the Lincoln Park section of Pensacola. Smith a passenger in the car would not get of the car at first but eventually surrendered to officers commands. Powder cocaine was also found in the vehicle.

The shooting which occurred on October 23 during a robbery of the bar led to the death of a patron, 25 year-old Jared Ortiz when he was shot in the head.

Smith was transported to the Escambia County Jail and has no bond on the warrant and charged additionally with Possession of Cocaine, a felony.

“This was an intense investigation that took a lot of man hours and sacrifices on the part of all those involved.” “But that cooperation eventually lead to the capture of a dangerous fugitive,” said Dennis Williamson, U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Florida.

Additional information about the U.S. Marshals can be found at http://www.usmarshals.gov.

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