Ocala police update on double homicide investigation

Hey, good afternoon, everybody. I'm Chief Mike Balkan. I want to welcome you all to the police department here, and thank you for coming down today to cover yesterday's story. Just to give you some quick facts, and then we'll get into a little Q&A. Yesterday at approximately 4.16 p.m., the Ocala Police Department received a call in reference to a verbal disturbance that was taking place at 1028 Southeast 8th Street. Upon our arrival, our officers met with three male subjects who reside together at that residence. The owner lives there and then rents rooms out to the other two individuals. After interviewing these three men, our officers determined that the dispute really had something to do with someone eating someone else's ice cream, if you can believe that. There were no criminal violations reported at the time. Peace was restored, and two of the individuals left on foot to go for a walk prior to our officers leaving the scene. Just over an hour later, we began receiving 911 calls regarding shots being fired at that location. Our officers quickly responded back to the home and immediately located a gunshot victim who was in the front yard. As they approached the homeowner, who is 69-year-old Mark Robinson, presented himself to our officers. He surrendered and then immediately indicated that he had just shot both of his roommates. While clearing the home, officers located a second victim who had also been shot. Unfortunately, both of them died from their injuries. It was later confirmed that the two victims were, in fact, Robinson's roommates, 69-year-old Charles Ethens and 78-year-old Michael Menkes. During the preliminary investigation, Robinson told our detectives that after our officers left that original disturbance call, he feared something was going to happen when they returned, so he retrieved a 12-gauge shotgun from his bedroom and placed that on the couch in the living room. When his two roommates returned from their walk, he indicates that a second altercation began. He said at one point Mr. Ethies armed himself with a knife, and both individuals then rushed towards him. He stated he felt threatened and then fired the shotgun at Mr. Ethies multiple times. Robinson then turned his attention to Mr. Menkes, who was attempting to flee from the residence. He then shot Menkes in the back as he was running away from the home. Our evidence showed that Menkes was, in fact, attempting to flee from the residence when he was shot. Based on that evidence, along with witness accounts and Robinson's own statements, detectives established probable cause for Robinson's arrest for one count of second-degree murder. And while that arrest has been made, the investigation remains active, and additional charges are possible as our investigators continue their work. I will say this arrest reflects some extensive work from our detectives and our responding officers, I do want to take a minute to thank them, as well as our dispatch center, our crime scene personnel, our victim advocates, and really, most importantly, our victims out there in the community, our witnesses out there in the community that assisted with our investigation. And with that, I'm happy to take any questions you all might have. Here's a question. Yes, ma'am. There are two people who are dead in this. Why are we more in charge? So that's part of that continuing investigation that we're going to be presenting to the state attorney's office. I'm not going to dive into that too much. That's something that our detectives will be working closely with prosecutors on. I was going to ask about that as well. Is it because of the possible self-defense? That's a possibility. Again, I think it's premature for me to talk too in-depth about that. I think it's pretty obvious from the statements I just made, kind of where we're at and what we're dealing with. Yes, we did. That's a great question. I've had the opportunity to look at three calls that we responded to just this year alone. I think the best way to describe this And even from an anecdotal perspective, quite frankly, this was what I would call a dysfunctional living arrangement. It's clear that the homeowner, quite frankly, was an angry old man that had some alcohol problems and could get nasty with not only his neighbors but his tenants as well. And I'll leave that at that. You had a question? Yes. What are the main questions that investigators are still trying to answer? Well, obviously we're looking at the self-defense notion that he's put forward, but we've got a lot more work to do in examining the evidence and more interviews to do before we dive into that. Again, I don't want to go into detail with that. Our detectives, safe to say, they'll be working with our prosecutors, and any charges that we can bring, they'll be bringing forward as quickly as possible. Does Mr. Robinson have any criminal history of note worth mentioning? Not that I'm aware of. I haven't gotten that far with him. I know our responses to the House. I know he's been cantankerous in the neighborhood, to say the least, and that's even with neighbors and kids and things like that. Do you know how long they've been living together and how they met? I unfortunately don't have that information for you at this time. I'm sorry. I do want to ask, some of the neighbors we spoke to had concerns because there have been three other shootings since August. Sure. What would you say the neighbors were worried about that right now? Yeah, look, I'm familiar with all three of these cases, right? This started back in January with an unprovoked shooting, a gentleman that was gardening in his front yard and really executed by someone who shouldn't have been in the neighborhood who was walking through really to get services. So some peculiarities on each of those cases. The second case I believe happened in September. That was two vehicles, one that was targeting the other. It was, quite frankly, a case of mistaken identity. But neither of those vehicles had anything to do with that area, and they were using 11th Avenue as a cut through from one side of town to the other. In this case, it was over ice cream and involved the homeowner and his two tenants. So I will say this. That area of town is extremely safe. I would argue the safest part of Ocala. However, understanding the fears of our residents, we have upped our security work in that area. They're going to see a lot more patrol cars, trying to make people feel safer. But these are obviously isolated, unrelated incidents and all with very particular sets of circumstances that make them obviously unrelated and hard to predict and therefore almost impossible to prevent. This is going to sound silly. Do you know who ate whose ice cream? I read that. I can't remember who. I think it was one of the tenants that ate the homeowner's ice cream, if not both of them. And Robinson is the homeowner? Yes, ma'am. When the police officers left from that disturbance call, you said it appeared everything was resolved at that point? Yes, ma'am. Yeah, so they talked to all three of these individuals. They found out clearly what this was all about, a minor disturbance in the home. You know, our dispatchers, our call takers were told there's no weapons in the home while we're headed that way. And in the end, I have a very young officer trying to calm three 60-, 70-year-old men down over ice cream. It's a ridiculous situation to happen. anywhere, much less in Ocala. Hard to believe that this happened over something so minor. It's incredible. Do you know how long the roommates had been living in that home? I don't. I wish I could answer that for you. I don't have that information. Yes, sir. Just to clarify, when the officers arrived the second time, Robinson met them in front of the house? Yes, they were approaching. They observed the first victim on the ground, and he came out and surrendered himself to our officers. Yes. How soon after officers left the first call did you guys get that second call? I think it was an hour and 16 minutes, to be exact. But a call payment from neighbors, not from... I'm not certain of that. I believe that's how it came out, yes. There were some witnesses from neighboring homes that observed this take place out front. All right, anything else? Yes. With you kind of being so silly and minor, is there any question towards Robinson's mental health? Not that I'm aware of. I certainly, you know, again, anecdotal reports about alcohol abuse and that kind of setting this guy off have reached me several times since the shooting happened I know nothing about any mental health issues I have certainly been told there's been some alcohol abuse in the household and I'll leave it at that. Alright, thank you again for covering the story.