FLORIDA – A jury has convicted an Ocala man of the attempted armed robbery of a Pensacola business where two employees were shot at point-blank range, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida has announced.
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Quinton L. Pete, 34, of Ocala, was found guilty by a federal jury of Attempted Hobbs Act Robbery and Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon following a three-day trial in Pensacola. Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced the guilty verdict.
According to the USAO, on March 9, 2022, just before 4 a.m., two employees at Coyote’s Sports Bar, which is next to Cordova Mall in Pensacola, were shot at point-blank range by Pete during an attempted robbery of the business. The victims were not able to identify the shooter at the time because of their wounds, but they provided a general description to law enforcement.
Law enforcement obtained surveillance videos from surrounding businesses and identified a white Jeep Grand Cherokee in the area at the time of the crime. Pete was apprehended the next day in Dallas, Texas, reportedly driving a matching white Jeep Grand Cherokee that was registered to him.
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Pete was in possession of the firearm that was used in the commission of the robbery, as later identified by ballistics comparison, the USAO said. Pete’s phone location is also said to have placed him in the area when he committed the crime.
Pete has prior felony convictions for Burglary of a Dwelling with a Firearm, Grand Theft, and Shooting at within or into a Dwelling. The USAO said he was released from prison seven months before the Pensacola robbery took place.
Sentencing in the case is set for October 26, 2023, at 1 p.m., at the United States Courthouse in Pensacola before United States District Judge T.K. Wetherell. Pete faces a maximum of 30 years imprisonment.
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This conviction was the result of an investigation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Pensacola Police Department, Department of Homeland Security, Grand Prairie Police Department in Dallas, Texas, the United States Marshals, and the Office of the State Attorney, First Judicial Circuit. Assistant United States Attorneys David L. Goldberg and Jessica S. Etherton prosecuted the case.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access available public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website.
