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Composite Sketches Released Of Crime Spree Gunmen

Wednesday, December 28, 2005 – updated: 6:52 am EST December 29, 2005

VICTIMS TALK: Teens Carjacked By Suspected Gunmen
VIDEO: Teens Discuss Carjacking By Suspected Gunmen

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- One person was killed and at least two criminals are on the run after a three-hour crime spree that spanned at least three different areas. After the spree, the gunmen carjacked an Orlando teen to help them get away.

Police are looking two or three men responsible for the night of terror. The crime spree started around 8 o'clock Tuesday night with an armed robbery in Ocoee. The gunmen then pulled off a similar crime in Winter Garden.

The spree turned deadly after the gunmen killed a man during a home invasion at the Hawthorne Groves Apartments in Orange County.

Composite sketch of the two suspects wanted in the crime spree
Late Wednesday afternoon, Orange County detectives were able to link the men in the composite sketches they released to the murder at the apartment complex and a home invasion in Winter Garden. Now comes the task of tying them to two other violent home invasions from Tuesday night.

For Orange County detectives, it's one of the most violent, random one-night crime sprees in recent memory. Two men could be tied to four violent home invasions that stretched from Winter Garden to various spots in Orange County, including one with a fatal ending at an apartment just off the 408.

"There was nothing that was not checked, uncharted, unturned, photographed, dusted, that we left at that scene," said Cpl. Carlos Torres, Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Detectives from three agencies are working to tie all four cases together and hunt down two men considered armed and dangerous.

First stop for the two was an Ocoee home around 8:30 Tuesday night. The victim was working on his car when he was robbed and his home ransacked. He almost became shooting victim number one, but the man’s gun misfired at point blank range.

An hour and a half later, the men hit a Winter Garden apartment complex, where they mugged a man and stole his cell phone. Then 40 minutes later, 44-year-old Shawn Mulkin was fatally shot after the two men rifled through his apartment for jewelry and loose change at Hawthorne Groves Apartments off Good Homes Road.

By Wednesday afternoon, Orange County robbery, homicide, narcotics, and even gang units were looking into the case, along with Winter Garden and Ocoee police, hoping the composite sketches, one of which came from the shooting victim's son, will lead them to two of the county's most wanted.

To pull off the crimes, detectives suspect the duo had to use the 429 and the 408 to get around. But without a 100 percent accurate description of the getaway vehicle, they said, surveillance video at the toll booths just isn't helpful, at least not yet.

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