20-year-old Antwion Courtez Martin of Oklahoma City (mug shot photo above) is facing first-degree murder charges after police say he shot and killed Edmond James Tyree, 48, after Tyree left the single-word comment “damm” on a photo of Martin’s girlfriend on Facebook. “This is a perfect example of some of the ridiculous reasons people kill for,” Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said.
Martin’s girlfriend Sharda Perkins posted the revealing photo of herself (above) on June 16 and captioned it, “Me on my way swimin.” Tyree left his “damm” comment on July 12, which was followed a few hours later by Antwion (who goes by Twon Goinsteady Martin on Facebook) writing, “Cuz wat that fucc u mean damm.”
Edmond Tyree was shot and killed in his apartment five days later. Tyree’s friend, disabled Iraq war veteran Michael Joe Hale, was visiting at the time and was also shot, though not fatally.
While at the hospital recovering from the shooting, Hale visited Tyree’s Facebook page and clicked on Sharda Perkins’ profile, one of only a few Facebook friends that Tyree had, and when he saw photos of her boyfriend Antwion Courtez Martin, Hale recognized him as the shooter. “It was pure dumb luck that he had his picture on her Facebook page,” Hale said.
Hale added that he and Tyree had discussed Sharda before. “He had mentioned to me a couple of weeks prior that they had been together. They both agreed it was a mistake … but everything’s cool. They were still friends and left it at that. That’s what he told me,” Hale said.
^ Edmond James Tyree
From The Oklahoman:
Hale, 48, a disabled Iraq War veteran, believes the shooter had one or two accomplices. Hale recalled one guy said to the shooter, “What’s taking so long? Hurry up and pop a cap in his ass.”
Detectives still are investigating the shooting in an effort to identify the other suspects.
Perkins, 21, could not be located for comment. Calls to a phone number listed for her went unanswered.
“During an interview … Martin acknowledged having words with the deceased victim about his comments made about the bathing suit photo,” Oklahoma City police detective Ryan Porter stated in a court affidavit.
On July 25 Sharda Perkins seemed to come to the defense of her boyfriend, writing on Facebook, “Ur face n some serious a** charges for some s**t you didn’t even do,” before adding that she thought he would be found guilty and they would be back together soon.
