31-year-old Andrew Joseph Lobban has been charged with three felony counts of first-degree murder after he fatally shot three of his friends over a prank, according to police. Lobban, a bouncer at an entertainment complex in Ocala, Florida, about 50 miles south of Gainesville, admitted to having shot three of his fellow bouncers - Benjamin Larz Howard, 23; Jerry Lamar Bynes Jr., 20; and Josue Santiago, 25 - because they were laughing and teasing him about an embarrassing video which one of them had recorded and shared on Facebook.
The video depicted Lobban being "punked" at a shooting range. At least one of the victims had reportedly rigged Lobban's gun so that it would misfire and subsequently filmed his struggle with the firearm. On Saturday night, when the four men were out drinking, Lobban grew enraged at jokes made at his expense about the incident.
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"He just kept harping on that," Sgt. Angy Scroble told the Ocala Star Banner. "It really bothered him."
Lobban told investigators that he only meant to shoot Josue Santiago, while the other two he shot by accident. Witnesses say there was no confrontation between Lobban and the three victims before he started shooting. One witness, Clifford Floyd, said he saw Lobban pull a black handgun from his pants as he left the bar with a larger group of people who were heading to another bar in the district. Floyd added that he heard shots before spotting Lobban running from the scene.
The bouncer was arrested at his girlfriend's house shortly before noon the following day. He admitted to police that he dumped a 9 mm pistol and the black t-shirt he'd worn that night in a garbage can as he fled from the scene. Both items were later recovered by police units.
The owner of the entertainment complex, Bobby Tillander, expressed shock over the incident. He said Lobban had worked for the club for about two and a half years and that he was quiet and mild-mannered. "If he said 10 words to you during his shift, that would be a lot," said Tillander. According to the Ocala Star Banner, Lobban has only a misdemeanor shoplifting count on his record.
The Star Banner spoke with the mothers of victims Santiago and Bynes. The two mothers are close - Santiago's fiancée is Bynes' sister - and told the paper they intended to bury their two sons side by side. Santiago's mother described her son, the father of a son and a 2-month-old daughter as a dedicated worker who had quickly moved up the ranks of club security to become the head. "He was agentle giant, a great son, a provider and a good father to his family," she said.
Bynes' mother told the paper her son, the father of a two-and-a-half-month-old daughter was a "good kid" who liked to laugh and joke and who was very into his physical fitness. "So many people loved him," she said.
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