TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Nearly three years after a woman was allegedly beaten nearly to death in front of a Tallahassee Sam’s Club, police have arrested a second suspect.
Aaron Carter, 20, is charged with attempted murder and carjacking in the November 4, 2021, incident, according to court records. Tallahassee Police allege Carter conspired to carjack the woman with Shakel McClain, who was arrested three years ago, according to court documents. Police allege the pair planned to attack the woman, who worked at the warehouse chain with Carter. They also accuse McClain of beating the woman with a tree branch in the store’s parking lot, fracturing her skull and causing a brain bleed, court documents say.
“[Her] grey hair appeared red from an apparent serious head injury. [She] was pale in color and frail in nature,” Carter’s probable cause affidavit said. “[Her] skin looked thin, and her veins were easily visible on both arms, which clearly indicated how elderly she was.”
The 17-page arrest affidavit, which is dated February 5, provides details on the night of the alleged carjacking, and how detectives spoke to Carter just days after the alleged attack. But it wasn’t until McClain’s attorneys pulled call and text records as they prepared to go to trial that Tallahassee Police say they were able to connect Carter to the crime scene.
TPD said they found the woman with one of her co-workers sitting on a bench in front of the store after her vehicle was stolen. Her left eye was bruised, and she struggled to answer questions, according to TPD. No suspect was in sight, so the officer told emergency medical services the area was clear for them to enter, the detective wrote in the affidavit.
The woman was rushed to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, where she was fading in and out of consciousness, the TPD investigator wrote in the affidavit. Doctors quickly determined she would need surgery.
“[Her] skull was fractured in several locations around her head. Such skull injuries are consistent with repeated beating or stomping on the head,” the report says.
Meanwhile, officers on the scene scoured the area for evidence. They found a tree branch near where they believed the woman’s car was taken, according to the document, and spotted blood spattered on the pavement.
Investigators also obtained surveillance video from the Sam’s Club that indicated the incident took place in a matter of minutes. The footage showed the woman leaving the store just before 8:10 p.m. Security cameras captured her white 2009 Jeep Compass leaving the parking lot at 8:11 p.m., according to the affidavit. Two cameras were pointed at the area where the woman was attacked, but they were not working at the time of the attack, the investigator wrote.
Three days passed, and then her Jeep was spotted near South Monroe Street and Orange Avenue. Tallahassee Police began chasing the vehicle. The affidavit alleges two minors bailed out of the car at McNeil Boulevard and surrendered to authorities, who took them in for questioning. But the driver continued on.
Eventually, the driver ditched the car at 220 Blackhorn Trail, the detective wrote. Despite deploying police dogs to track the suspect, officers left the area empty-handed, the document said. They couldn’t find the driver. But when they searched the car, they found swabs and three black ankle socks, the detective wrote.
Back at the station, the juveniles told detectives that Aaron Carter and a teenager they didn’t know named “Kels” drove the pair to spend the evening at the fair. On the way home, a squad car flipped on its lights and tried to pull them over. At that point, both teens alleged “Kels” told them the car was stolen and he let them out, since they did not know him, the investigator wrote.
So TPD looked into Carter.
Detectives found he was studying at Second Chance at Ghazvini Learning Center. They met him at the K-12 school, and the then-teen told detectives he worked at Sam’s Club with the victim, and he had clocked in on the day she was attacked. But he told investigators he didn’t see the attack, the affidavit states.
Carter shared with detectives his recollection of the night of November 7: The date of the fair and police pursuit.
He told detectives Shakel McClain picked him and some others up in a white Jeep and drove them to the fair. McClain and Carter knew each other because the former used to go to Second Chance, too, before he moved to a group home in Panama City, the document said. But McClain had arrived in the capital city in late October, and Carter told police his friend took a bus to visit him at Sam’s Club on November 4 ahead of his shift.
“I asked Carter if McClain was waiting for him to get off work and he stated no, because he had to work until 9:00 PM,” the detective wrote.
The teen told police his friend said he “had a ‘splat’ (slang for stolen vehicle),” and that McClain told Carter he planned to cruise around in the car all weekend before picking him up to go to the fair Sunday. They went to the fair together, Carter told police, and McClain dropped him off at home.
That’s when Carter said he got an alarming call, the affidavit states.
“He received a call from McClain stating that the police had chased him and he was hiding in the woods. Carter stated McClain then told him he stole the car from Carter’s work,” the detective wrote. “Carter stated he put two and two together and realized he had stolen [the victim’s] vehicle and possibly attacked her.”
He showed police his calls and texts with McClain, according to the affidavit.
“He got a text message from McClain later that morning stating he was safe and home, although Carter did not know where he was staying. Carter advised McClain told him he had planned to drive the stolen car back to Panama City,” the investigator wrote.
Almost a week after the attack, McClain was arrested and charged with attempted felony murder, carjacking without a firearm and feeling and eluding law enforcement, the affidavit states.
As prosecutors prepared for McClain’s trial, which court records say is set to begin Monday, they pointed out a notable text conversation between McClain and Carter, the affidavit states. The November 4, 2021, conversation is as follows, according to the 17-page report. In the report, McClain’s texts are labeled outgoing and Carter’s are labeled incoming.
5:40 p.m., Carter: “Ight bet lmk wen u xlose”
5:40 p.m., McClain: “Ight.”
5:41 p.m., McClain: “I didn’t have gloves so I brought socks”
5:42 p.m., Carter: “Dat works”
5:42 p.m., McClain: “Where imma take it”
5:42 p.m., McClain: “Or do u want me too pc”
5:43 p.m., Carter: “It’s literally rite up tha road kuz we gotta xchange tha plates on it first before u kan take it to px”
5:43 p.m., McClain: “N come back Saturday”
5:43 p.m., McClain: “Ight”
5:43 p.m., McClain: “When I leave the lot imma call you”
5:44 p.m., Carter: “Ight ima show u where to go”
In the correspondence, McClain asks “Can I go see someone tn in da car before we gotta park it or do we gotta park it after we get it,” and Carter responds “Dats up to u… dat bih gonna be hot”.
6:44 p.m., McClain: “9 minutes out”
6:44 p.m., Carter: “Ight bet wen u get here go down here near tha right side u gonna see a big shed I’m sittin here”
6:44 p.m., McClain: “Ight”
6:46 p.m, McClain: “Do I need to mask up before I hit the lot”
6:47 p.m., Carter: “Ya”
A little over two hours later, McClain asks Carter for “the addy,” and he responds “502 Putnam drive,” according to the text logs included in the affidavit. McClain responds “Ight” and Carter shoots a message back: “Law low.”
11:08 p.m., Carter: “Ight bet but tha xar gonna be hot ina min kuz Dey found her”
11:08 p.m., Carter: “N Dey gonna put a bolow out tha xar”
11:09 p.m., McClain: “So what u want me too do”
11:10 p.m., Carter: “Hide tha kar to m n on Sunday we gonna take dat bih bxk our” “out”
A few minutes later, McClain sends a message asking “Should I risk taking it to the crib” and Carter responds “Yea go ahead kuz Dey don’t know wat kar yet.” They text back and forth a few more times, according to the affidavit, before McClain writes “Imma park it in the abandoned house” “Right” and Carter responds “Yea u gonna make it.”
11:17 p.m., McClain: “Like inside the gate”
11:17 p.m., Carter: “Naw like down tha street”
The detective writes in the probable cause affidavit that these messages tell a different story than the statement Carter provided to police during their interview at his school. He points to the conversation as evidence of Carter’s involvement.
“In the above conversation McClain and Carter are planning for the carjacking to take place,” the affidavit says.
Tallahassee Police point to the mention of socks in the messages, saying they found socks that did not belong to the victim after recovering her vehicle. The investigator writes “it is believed that McClain used these socks after stealing the vehicle to prevent leaving fingerprints in the vehicle.”
He alleges Carter directed McClain to go to a shed that is in “the exact spot where McClain attacked [the woman] with a broken tree branch and stole her vehicle.” The detective alleges Carter told McClain they’d need to “change the license plate on the car because it’s going to be ‘hot,’ and that the then-teens planned to take the car to the fair.
Another text appeared to show a photo of the Sam’s Club parking lot in the spot where police believe the woman was attacked, the affidavit states.
“Based on the additional information obtained in this case, Carter and McClain devised the plan to steal a vehicle from Sam’s Club, where Carter was employed and working the day of the attack,” the detective wrote.
Carter was booked into the Leon County Detention Facility Tuesday.
According to court records, Carter has been ordered not to contact McClain, Sam’s Club, the victim or witnesses. In his first appearance on Wednesday, the 20-year-old was denied bond. He submitted a not-guilty plea this week as well.
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