JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The man accused of killing an off-duty Jacksonville Sheriff's Office corrections officer at Northside truck stop has been arrested in North Carolina, the agency announced Sunday.
Brad McNew was 24-year veteran of JSO and police said he had just finished his shift. After 29-year-old Demaurea Grant was seen throwing a woman he was with against a black Mustang and on the ground at a Duval Road truck stop, he placed a handgun on the hood. McNew asked if she was OK, Grant told him it was a "family matter" and pointed the gun at McNew.
Grant is currently in custody in Gaston County, North Carolina, and is being held without bond until he is extradited to Florida. Sheriff T.K. Waters said many resources went into Grant's arrest. Grant is from North Carolina and was arrested without incident in Gastonia around 7:30 a.m., Waters said. The woman with Grant was arrested on unrelated charges.
"Today's arrest is about accountability for a person who essentially took the life of a man who was attempting to help another human being," Sheriff T.K. Waters said.
JSO detectives are in North Carolina gathering evidence and conducting interviews.
The woman tried to get Grant to leave, and when they did, Grant shot at McNew from the passenger seat multiple times before fleeing north. McNew later died at a hospital.
Waters said the investigation was about turning "collective horror into hope" and now Grant would have to "answer for what he's done." Waters also called Grant a "clown."
"This is not an agency that's going to let you do whatever you want and not face the consequences for it," Waters said. "We're going to hold you accountable."
Hundreds of people gathered in Atlantic Beach's Jack Russell Park Saturday night for a candlelight vigil to remember the McNew's life. His son, Liam McNew, said Saturday his father had a helpful nature to the very end.
“I know he didn’t have any regrets when he helped that woman who was being abused,” Liam McNew said.