One of the men convicted in a Niceville double homicide in 2022 failed in his attempt to appeal his conviction. The murders were the first in the city in several years and took place at the Oak Creek Shopping Plaza – the same location and event night Mike Ledford was stabbed and killed by Dylan Deschaine a year later. Luna entered a no-contest plea in May of this year and was convicted of murder. Police say Bryson Tyrese Mitchum of Fort Walton Beach and Brandon DeQuan James died in a drug deal gone wrong.
Isaiah Lamar Luna, 23, filed a motion from the Graceville Correctional Facility for post-conviction relief in the case that was rejected by the courts. .
Other defendants in the case,, Brenden Jerroed Carson and Kaland Karon Jones,, have not received final judgments.
Carson, 24, has a court hearing to change his plea status on October 16, 2026.
Jones, 23, has a pretrial hearing on November 9, 2026.
What happened
According to the arrest affidavit associated with the three men’s cases, at about 730 in the evening of February 11, 2022, Niceville Police responded to a shots-fired call at the Oak Creek Shopping Plaza. Once there, the officers found a car with several bullet holes in it -nd the body of Bryson Tyrese Mitchem. Over him, a registered nurse was administering CPR.
Mitchem had a gunshot wound to the face. When EMS arrived on scene, they declared Mitchem dead.
Inside the vehicle, the police found a large amount of what they believed to be marijuana in vacuum-sealed bags.
Minutes later, police responded to a welfare check at the intersection of Lake Court and South Palm Boulevard in Niceville. There, the police found Brandon Dequan Jones with a gunshot wound to the chest and Isaiah Lamar Luna, who had a gunshot wound in his leg. EMS responded there as well and declared Jones dead on the scenl. Luna was taken to what is now HCA Fort Walton-Destin for help.
Security Footage
After officers arrested suspects or sent them to the hospital, they began canvassing for evidence and sought video from cameras in the area. While the canvas took place, another suspect, not named in the report, who ran from the scene after the shooting was detained.
The officers also tracked down the owner of the car and learned that one of the men involved in the shooting, Darius Tyrell Wingate, Mitchem’s brother, lived in the guest room of the apartment of the car owner.
Officers narrowed down their suspects to men in a white car. The officers found the black car on the scene and pulled up next to it as James and Luna hid behind a nearby dumpster.
About 12 hours later, law enforcement officers recovered the white car where it was abandoned on the eastbound side of I-10, near the exit for State Route 231, which goes north to Cottondale and South to Panama City. The car had bullet holes on its exterior and blood inside the vehicle. The car was later found to be stolen. Inside the car were some of Luna’s personal effects and a receipt for 7.62 ammunition.
Video obtained on February 16 shows Wingate, who, according to a witness, organized the fatal drug deal, and Mitchum, whom Wingate recruited to help, leaving their apartment with a cardboard box and leaving for Niceville immediately before the shooting.
Finding an AK
On Valentine’s Day, 2022, a Niceville High School lacrosse player found aanAK-style rifle on the practice fields on the side of Palm Boulevard across from Niceville High School. Police secured the firearm andmatchedh the type of 7.62 ammunition in the rifle to the kind of ammunition used in the shooting at Oak Creek Shopping Plaza on the 11th.
Arrests
Law enforcement arrested Luna in Jefferson County, Florida, East of Tallahassee, after they caught up to him. Luna asked to speak to law enforcement as a witness and told them that he drove with three other men in the stolen white Nissan to purchase marijuana from Wingate and Mitchem in Niceville. Two of the men were armed with handguns, while another man, whom he called “Gax”” possessed an AK-47.
When the men arrived at the Oak Creek Shopping Plaza, they exited the vehicle to make sure they wouldn’t be robbed, according to Luna. When the men approached the Black Honda Civic, Luna says the men inside opened fire on them and hit him in the leg.
Everyone ran. In the confusion, Luna made it back to the white car’s ‘sdriver’s side. Suddenly,, Gax, Kaland Karon Jones, and one of the accomplices pulled the third accomplice into the car. Gax got in the driver’s seat and drove them all away.
Wingate was arrested in March 2022 in connection with the case buy the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. He pleaded guilty to possession of and intent to distribute marijuana in relation to the case.
Relevant Midbaynews.com Links
Major Breakthrough in the 2022 Okaloosa County Murder Case
Gang and Drug-Related: Chief Popwell Gives Update on Double Homicide
