Sheriff’s Office worked ‘to develop best possible case for prosecution’
Nearly 11 months after a Venice homicide occurred, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a suspect in the case, the agency announced this week.
Zachary Hunter Bolin, 32, of 130 Hatchett Creek Blvd. in Venice, has been charged with Homicide: Murder Dangerous Depraved without Premeditation in connection with the death of 42-year-old Patrick Alan Warrick, also of Venice, the Sheriff’s Office reported.
On April 22, 2025, deputies responded about 1:56 a.m. to a call about an injured, unresponsive person on the sidewalk in the 3900 block of South Tamiami Trail in Vence, a news release said. “Warrick had a gunshot wound to his right shoulder” and another wound in his abdomen, the release added. He was pronounced deceased at 2:31 a.m. on April 22, 2025, the release said.
In the aftermath of Warrick’s death, the release continued, detectives “used various investigative means to develop the best possible case for prosecution,” the release continued. Sheriff’s detectives were able to identify Bolin and arrest him without incident on Wednesday, March 11, in Venice, the release added.
As of March 18, Bolin remained in custody, without bond, at the Sarasota County Correctional Facility, The Sarasota News Leader learned from jail records. A document in the homicide case docket in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court records shows that a determination had been made that no bond should be set for him.
“The investigation is ongoing,” the news release pointed out. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Criminal Investigations Section at 941-861-4900.
Video surveillance points to suspect
The Probable Cause Affidavit for Bolin says that, at 1:56 a.m. on April 22, 2025, Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived at Court House Plaza, located at 3980 S. Tamiami Trail in Venice, in response to a call about an injured person.
Patrick Warrick had been found “unresponsive on the sidewalk in front of the address,” as reported by a woman who had walked by the plaza, the affidavit added. Paramedics who arrived to treat Warrick discovered that he had a gunshot wound to his right shoulder and another gunshot wound in his abdomen, the affidavit noted.
He was pronounced deceased at 2:31 a.m. on April 22, the affidavit said.
“Warrick had been found lying on his back next to his bicycle, flashlight, and backpack,” the affidavit continued. “A 9mm shell casing and a spent 9mm bullet were found adjacent to him,” it said, while five more 9mm shell casings were about 20 feet to the west of him, on the plaza’s sidewalk.
When Sheriff’s Office personnel reviewed video from a surveillance camera that was positioned near the spot where Warrick was discovered, the affidavit added, they heard six audible gunshots that began at 11:50 p.m. on April 21. Video surveillance from the nearby South County Courthouse, which stands immediately east of the spot where Warrick was found, showed a white man wearing a black, short-sleeve shirt and long dark pants walking eastbound at 11:51 p.m., the affidavit noted. No one else was observed in the video before or after the shooting, it said.
A camera in the plaza also had taken footage; it showed a person “walking in front of the barbershop” at 11:50 p.m. on April 21, the affidavit continued. The man had “a distinct and unusual gait,” it said. He was seen “looking out of frame to where Warrick would be located,” the affidavit added.
The video also showed that as the man headed west, “he placed a dark object” in the right front of his waistband, under his shirt, the affidavit noted.
Video surveillance from a Wawa standing “several blocks away” showed a white man enter the store, purchase a beer and heading east toward Court House Plaza as he left the Wawa, the affidavit continued. That was at 11:42 p.m. on April 21, it said. That man had “the same unusual gait” observed in the other video, as well as the same haircut and the “same exact clothing as [seen on the man in] the barbershop video,” the affidavit pointed out.
The Wawa video also indicated that he had “an object imprinting on the right side of his waistband,” it added.
“The transaction history and video at Wawa indicated the white male [was] Zachary Bolin,” the affidavit said. “Body Camera footage from the Venice Police Department shows Bolin during an interaction with [officers on March 4, 2025, during which] his mother confirms he owns a Taurus firearm,” the affidavit noted.
Prior charges for Bolin and Warrick
A News Leader search of 12th Judicial Circuit Court records involving Bolin found that the only other charges against him came in 2023, when he was cited twice for speeding and once for not having his driver’s license on him; the latter count was a result of a law enforcement officer’s stopping him in the second speeding case.
The News Leader also learned from court records that Warrick was cited twice in 2011 for riding a bicycle with no light or an improper light; he was cited for public urination or defecation in September 2014; in one case in 2012 and two cases in late 2014, he was charged with consumption of, or having an open container of, an alcoholic beverage on a public right of way; in April 2016, he was charged with possession of an open container of an alcoholic beverage on a public right of way; in June 2017, he was charged with disorderly conduct; he was charged with one count of robbery with no weapon in December 2023; and he was charged with two counts of trespassing in 2024 and one in 2025. In the latter two incidents, the counts involved an occupied structure or conveyance; the 2024 Probable Cause Affidavit characterized Warrick as a “transient,” which is a word used to describe homeless individuals.