🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
The mother of a man charged with murdering a woman in a Home Depot store in Florida helped coordinate the killing, authorities said.
Sheila Agee is being charged with principal to first-degree murder, the Escambia County Sheriff's Office announced in a news release on Monday.
Her son Keith Agee, 20, of Calvert, Alabama, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder and aggravated battery in connection with the death of 18-year-old Brooklyn Sims, the mother of his 2-year-old daughter, WEAR News reported.
Authorities said he entered the Home Depot store on Davis Highway in Pensacola on Friday afternoon and fatally shot 18-year-old Brooklyn Sims. Two others sustained minor injuries, the sheriff's office said.
In Monday's news release, the sheriff's office said "investigators discovered that the mother of the suspect, Keith Agee, knew and even helped him coordinate the murder."
Text messages between them show that Sheila Agee "knew and participated in the plan to kill Brooklyn Sims," the sheriff's office added. "Additionally, text messages between mother and son highlight the mother's involvement in helping locate the victim."
In a statement, Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said: "The murder itself is unbelievable, but to know the mother knew about it and helped coordinate it is incomprehensible."
According to the sheriff's office, these are the text messages that the mother and son exchanged prior to the shooting:
Keith Agee: "Shi ain't do nun but cost me money and gave me a ******* I'm fin just shoot her Ik I hate that for [daughter] buh like I said I can't take it idgaf Nomo."
Sheila Agee: "Ok."
Keith: "Ok I'll call you and tell you mf if you want to go to jail I'll tell you when we get close but if you don't come kill her you a mf b****."
Sheila: "Don't call nanny and tell her she will try and talk you out of it."
Keith: "Ian even gon tell her y I left." "I'm just say I gotta go to the dentist."
Sheila: "Don't even go there she won't know you left." "Don't shoot at my mf car I don't want to die."
Keith: "I'm not"
Sheila: "Wait till I put her out."
Keith: "I was gon wait till she got out."
Sheila: "Ok".
Keith: "Buh that's another thing if she don't get out that car momma and I have to drag her out or can't ima ask u to step out Cuz I'm open the door jus shoot her."
Sheila: "As long as you don't shoot me."
Sheila: "Hell if you getting off work now I'll give you the address here and you can ride over here and do it so you don't have to do it in front of [daughter]."
Keith: "Send it to me"
Sheila: "We just in Pensacola."
Keith: "I'm otw send it"
Sheila: "Hold up let me get it erase the texts cause I don't want nobody to know I was texting you stupid ass."
Keith: "I already deleted mine trust me ian gon say shi abt us even tlkin td."
Keith: "wats the address"
Sheila: "I can't wait to get back to that store to give you the address cause you gonna have to shoot me today I done told you about cussing me."
Keith: "All I want is that address momma I'm done tlkin I done tlked enough Ik wats gonna happen and I'm ok with that I done already been thinkin it thru and this the only way for me idk why u so quick to start shi wit me buh again must be scared of Brooklyn or sum idk."
Keith: "She gon be onna floor right?"
Sheila: "waiting on you"
Keith: "I'm saying I'm gone have to find her in the back or sum?"
Sheila: "Nope"
Keith: "Ok"
Keith: "Stay out my way"
Sheila: "I am"
Keith: "Lol man get off my phone all I needed was that address leave me alone finish yo work day And you is to I forgot just me"
Keith: "So that last thought of her knowin she f***** and the regret in her face will b enough to satisfy me idgaf what she see wen she dead, Yes tf she do How tf I'm pick her up when yo sorry a** tryna go gamble or hang in Jackson and she don't pick up the phone, Nah that ain't even gon fly she a jus die before I let that continue."
Sheila: "Ok whatever Idc do what you do idgaf. Cause I'm going home today not to hell or to jail."
Keith: "good for u"
Sheila: "Ok then stop texting me I'm working. Do whatever you want to do. It don't affect me either f****** way."
Sheila Agee was arrested in Washington County, Alabama, and will be extradited to Escambia County, Florida, the sheriff's office said.
An arrest report obtained by WEAR News says video footage from the Home Depot shows Keith Agee entering the store and turning down aisle 52. Deputies later found Sims deceased in that aisle.
The two other victims told deputies that Agee said something to Sims before firing about five shots, the report said. One sustained a bullet graze to her back as she fled the aisle, while the other had a bullet graze to her hand. Both were transported to the hospital for treatment.
The report said that while deputies were still at the scene, a man called 911 with his location and said he wanted to turn himself in. Deputies then arrested Agee at a nearby restaurant.
He is being held in Escambia County Jail without bond, online records show.
The sheriff's office has been contacted for further comment via email.
Friends of Sims have set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for funeral costs and other expenses.
"Let us say to know Brooklyn was to love her, she could light up a whole room with just one smile!" they wrote on the page. "She was a loving and very devoted mother to her beautiful daughter Kacey who is a reflection of her mother! We want everyone to remember Brooklyn as the light she really was on this Earth." The organizers have been contacted for comment via GoFundMe.
About the writer
Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's National Correspondent based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on education and national news. Khaleda ... Read more