DUNNELLON, FL (352today.com) – Shoppers in the produce section at the Walmart in Dunnellon got more than “every day low prices” on Sunday.
To their surprise, Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) deputies clad in tactical gear and with weapons drawn bypassed the cantaloupes and watermelons in pursuit of a man.
Deputies were after 35-year-old Joshua Comer. They arrested him in the parking lot of the Walmart on Williams Street after they say he tried to get away through a side door.
How it started
The sheriff’s office says Comer’s odyssey began on Friday, Aug. 23, when a deputy responded to a report of extortion.
A woman told authorities that Comer sent her text messages demanding money. The woman refused, telling authorities that Comer is a drug user, and she had kicked him out of the house.
The woman told authorities that she and Comer share a bank account and that she transferred the money to her business account to keep him from spending it on drugs. According to the arrest report, Comer then threatened to spread sexually explicit photos of her online.
Authorities say the text exchange went back and forth with Comer sending the woman two sexually explicit photos of her, saying it would “be a shame if these leaked somewhere.”
What happened next
Two days later, on Sunday, Aug. 25, the woman told authorities that Comer sent a sexually explicit video of her to two of her friends via Facebook Messenger.
While Marion County deputies investigated this incident, the Levy County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) sent an alert advising MCSO to be on the lookout for Comer who they say had just robbed a gas station in their jurisdiction and was heading toward Marion County.
An MCSO deputy located Comer’s pickup truck in the Walmart parking lot in Dunnellon. When deputies found Comer in the produce section, they say he took off. On Monday, they released body camera footage of the pursuit.
“Hands! Hands! Show me your (expletive deleted) hands right now,” a deputy is heard saying on the video as they run past a woman and a Walmart employee loading groceries into her car.
While running from the deputies, they say Comer ditched his shopping cart which slammed into a parked car causing about $500 in damage to the vehicle.
You can see deputies cuff Comer and you can hear as he tells them he has a gun in his right pocket.
Deputies say a search revealed Comer was in possession of a stolen handgun, ammunition and two clear pipes that tested positive for fentanyl.
They say he also led deputies to the bushes where he had previously stashed a stolen shotgun.
At the jail
Comer was arrested and transported to the Marion County jail.
While he was being booked, deputies say Comer battered a detention officer.
He has been charged with:
- extortion
- battery on a law enforcement officer
- possession of a weapon by a convicted felon
- carrying a concealed firearm
- sexual-cyber harassment
- resisting arrest without violence
- criminal mischief
- possession of drug paraphernalia
He is being held without bond. A court date has been set for September 24.