Andre Bryant had a mask on his head when police found his body

When police found Andre Bryant dead on the side of a road in Sarasota, he was wearing a mask over his head.

Less than four hours earlier on Aug. 5, four masked men had accosted a 25-year-old woman as she came home in the 1100 block of Harvard Avenue in Bayshore Gardens and forced into one of the bedroom. Shortly after, detectives believe that her boyfriend, Rodney Williams, 23, and possibly one other person, came home and were confronted by the suspects.

The woman could hear yelling, she told detectives, and a shootout ensued. She managed to run away from the home, and when deputies responded to a 911 call from neighbors, they found Williams and Keith Lamar Jones, 28, dead.

Jones was also wearing a mask over his head when deputies found his body.

Since then, the Manatee Homicide Investigative Unit has been working with Sarasota police to determine if Bryant was shot at the home before his body was dumped.

Detectives are still waiting for the results of tests to determine whether Bryant, 28, was one of the four suspects involved in the Bayshore Gardens shootout. They believe that two suspects remain at large.

“We have very good information,” sheriff’s office spokesman Dave Bristow said. “We can’t say for sure but we have strong leads on who it may be.”

No arrests have been made in the case.

Video surveillance footage on neighboring homes was able to provide detectives some assistance, especially confirming their theory that there were four suspects. The woman in the home had initially told detectives, three or four.

Because it was still dark at the time of the shooting, the video footage was dark, making it difficult to identify the suspects since they can all be seen wearing masks.

Bryant’s body was found near the intersection of Bahia Vista Street and Yale Avenue when Sarasota police responded to a 911 call reporting a man sleeping or passed out drunk under a tree.

This story was originally published August 31, 2017 at 6:41 PM with the headline "Andre Bryant had a mask on his head when police found his body."