41-year-old man charged with murder and possession of a weapon by convicted felon
The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office is investigating two unrelated shootings, officers announced in separate advisories on April 9.
A 41-year-old man has been charged in connection with one of the cases, which occurred in the 2300 block of Britannia Road in Sarasota, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office reported on April 11.
Saladine Monroe, of 1254 13th St. in Sarasota, is being held without bond in the county jail on one count each of Homicide and Possession of a Weapon by a Convicted Felon, Kaitlyn R. Perez, the Sheriff’s Office’s community affairs director, announced on April 11. Corrections Division records show that Monroe’s arraignment has been scheduled for May 20.
The complete count involving the death of the victim in that case is Homicide: Murder Dangerous Depraved without Premeditation, the Corrections Division records say.
Twelfth Judicial Circuit Court records that The Sarasota News Leader reviewed show that Monroe’s real name is Shaheem Omar Monroe; he has used Saladine Monroe as an alias.
The shooting for which Monroe was arrested was reported at 11:41 a.m. on April 9, according to a Sheriff’s Office advisory that Lt. Jason Mruczek of the Patrol Division issued.
The second shooting was reported just after 2:50 p.m. on April 9, following two individuals’ arrival at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, that advisory said. Both had gunshot wounds, Mruczek noted.
“Based on very preliminary investigation,” that report added, “it is believed an altercation occurred in the 2100 block of 32nd Street in Sarasota which led to a shooting. The status of both individuals is unknown at this time …” Nonetheless, Mruczek added that detectives believed that was an isolated incident, as well.
The Sheriff’s Office had not provided any update on that case by the deadline for this issue of the News Leader.
The Britannia Road incident
The initial alert about the Britannia Road shooting said, “Preliminary investigation indicates this is an isolated incident. The shooting occurred inside a residence and resulted in the death of a 47-year-old male. Detectives have identified the suspect in this incident and are actively working to locate him.”
A press release that Perez of the Sheriff’s Office issued on April 12 said that when deputies arrived at the scene, they found a 47-year-old man deceased from a single gunshot wound. “The suspect was immediately identified as 41-year-old Saladine Monroe,” the release added.
The Probable Cause Affidavit in that case said that the victim was lying on the floor of the laundry room “with a single gunshot wound to the abdomen.” Members of a Sarasota County Fire/Rescue unit pronounced the victim deceased at approximately 12:23 p.m., the affidavit noted.
The Sheriff’s Office has not identified the victim; his family opted into provisions of the state’s Marsy’s Law, which affords privacy to crime victims, the news release pointed out.
No one else in the house was injured, the release said.
Danielle Mgogo, “who is Monroe’s ex-wife,” the press release continued, told officers that “Monroe arrived unannounced to visit his 14-year-old son.” Mgogo asked Monroe to wait outside in his black Cadillac while she went to a neighbor’s home to pick up their son, the affidavit added.
When she returned to the home, the affidavit continued, she saw Monroe come out of the backyard, through a gate, and walk toward the front door. Mgogo “tried to get back into her residence and close the door” before Monroe was able to enter the dwelling, the affidavit said. Nonetheless, the report continued, Monroe grabbed the door, preventing Mgogo from closing it, and he entered the home.
“Monroe refused to leave the residence,” the affidavit pointed out, and he began to look around the house.
Monroe found the victim as the latter walked out of the spare bedroom, which is next to the laundry room, the affidavit continued.
Mgogo told officers that Monroe had accused the victim of having a relationship with her, the affidavit added.
She spotted a gun inside Monroe’s waistband, the affidavit noted, as he confronted the victim. Then she “immediately grabbed her son,” the affidavit added, and retreated into another bedroom, from where she heard a gunshot.
She and her son hid in a closet, she told officers, until deputies arrived.
Criminal history of Monroe
Monroe has prior local arrests for DUI, Resisting an Officer and Contempt, the Sheriff’s Office news release pointed out.
The Probable Cause Affidavit also pointed out that he was convicted for Possession of Controlled Substance in Camden, N.J., in January 2002.
One case the News Leader reviewed in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court records, which dated to May 20, involves an incident in which Monroe originally was charged with Burglary of an Occupied Structure. The State Attorney’s Office for the 12th Judicial District reclassified it as Trespass in Occupied Structure or Conveyance, a document says.
The Probable Cause Affidavit in the original case explains that the victim, whose identity was redacted, told an officer that she believed Monroe broke into her home through a front window. When she entered the living room from her bedroom, she said, she found him.
The victim added that Monroe never had lived in that residence.
Further, the victim alleged that Monroe was trying to get money from her.
Conversely, Monroe told a Sarasota Police Department officer that he had found the front door unlocked, so he let himself into the house. Monroe added that he had come “to get his stimulus check from the victim.”
The affidavit’s narrative noted that Monroe had a history with the victim, who told the officer “she believes that the defendant is capable of killing her [but] she did not wish to contact the Florida domestic violence hotline” at that time.
The officer who wrote the report’s narrative said he found evidence that the screen of a window on the front of the house had been cut, and that Monroe had entered the house “knowing multiple people were inside the home.”
That incident occurred just after 8:30 a.m. on May 3, 2020, the report noted.
After the State Attorney’s Office modified the charge in the case, Monroe pleaded “No contest” to it in February 2021 and agreed in June 2021 to pay fines and fees totaling $248, court records say. Court staff put him on a payment plan, which called for him to turn over the final $20.63 to the Clerk of Circuit Court’s Office on June 2 of this year.
The docket shows that Monroe made three payments — $25, $21 and $42. The Clerk’s Office had sent him multiple reminders through April 7 of this year, the docket also indicates.