On the evening of August 6, 2023, two shootings in Lake Wales, Florida, left one man dead and another fatally wounded later that night. At about 8 p.m., witnesses entered an apartment at the Lake Wales Housing Authority Grove Manor complex, 303 N. First Street Apartment B, and found 23-year-old Rhasaan Marquese Johnson suffering from gunshot wounds. Johnson was taken to Advent Health Lake Wales and pronounced dead.

Witnesses said 24-year-old Kendrick J. Akins was seen in the apartment and left shortly after their arrival; detectives named him a person of interest in Johnson’s shooting and began searching for him. Around 11:45 p.m., officers responding to a tip about Akins heard gunfire near Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Sessoms Avenue and found Akins on the sidewalk with multiple gunshot wounds. He died at the scene. Police described the second shooting as appearing retaliatory because Akins and Johnson knew each other; there is no known motive for the earlier killing. A $5,000 reward is offered for information leading to the arrest of the suspect in the second shooting.

If anyone has information about either shooting, contact the Lake Wales Police Department or Heartland Crime Stoppers to remain anonymous and be eligible for the reward?