Authorities found Tashana Ian McMorris, 33, dead in a car along 45th Street in the early morning hours of May 14.
WEST PALM BEACH — City police arrested a 30-year-old Riviera Beach man Tuesday in connection to a May fatal shooting along 45th Street in West Palm Beach.
Carlington Haughton is facing one count of first-degree murder. He is being held without bail at the Palm Beach County Jail. According to court records, the county Public Defender’s Office is representing Haughton. It does not comment on open cases.
Authorities allege that Haughton shot and killed 33-year-old Tashana Ian McMorris on the morning of May 14 in the parking lot of the Sam’s Club retail warehouse at 45th and Military Trail.
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Officers responded to a 911 call and found McMorris dead in a vehicle from multiple gunshot wounds. Investigators recovered 10 shell casings from the scene and found multiple bullet strikes on the exterior of McMorris’ vehicle, the arrest report said.
DNA evidence and a statement from a witness linked Haughton to the crime, according to a West Palm Beach Police report made public Wednesday. The arrest report did not indicate a motive for the shooting.
The witness told investigators of seeing Haughton arrive at the scene in a blue Toyota Scion moments before shooting and killing McMorris.
Authorities watched surveillance-camera video showing a blue Toyota leave the parking lot in the moments after the shooting. A records search showed a vehicle matching that description registered in Haughton’s name, the arrest report said.
Investigators processed multiple areas of McMorris’ vehicle for DNA and sent the evidence to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office crime lab. A forensic biology report released in June indicated that DNA evidence recovered from the vehicle was most likely to have originated from Haughton, the arrest report said.
McMorris’ death is one of seven confirmed homicides this year in West Palm Beach, according to a Palm Beach Post online database. The city had 15 homicides in 2020.
In all, there have been 52 confirmed homicides in Palm Beach County this year, according to the database.
@JuliusWhigham