Bradenton Tropicana plant shooter convicted after kidnapping his coworker, police say
A Manatee County jury convicted a Bradenton man on Friday of attempted murder and three other felonies for shooting a co-worker and kidnapping another after an argument at the Tropicana plant.
Jurors found Demetrius Tyrone Bell, 51, guilty of attempted murder, aggravated assault with a firearm, armed kidnapping and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, the Bradenton Police Department announced in a news release.
On June 5, 2023, investigators said Bell got into an argument with a 39-year-old male coworker after his shift at the Tropicana Bradenton plant. After leaving, police said Bell later returned to the plant, pulled out a gun and shot the man in the torso, seriously injuring him. Bell then forced a female co-worker to leave with him at gunpoint, police said.
After Bell fled, police opened a missing persons investigation for the kidnapped coworker, citing concerns for her safety. Detectives said at the time that she did not leave willingly. Two days later, Bell released her uninjured in Tampa, the Bradenton Herald previously reported.
Bell remained on the run for nearly a year before detectives received a tip in April 2024 that he had returned to Bradenton, police said. When officers attempted to arrest him, he ran, according to police.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit later spotted him hanging from the roof of a storage facility in the 2800 block of Manatee Avenue East near the Braden River before Bradenton police arrested him, according to detectives.
At the time, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister called Bell “a dangerous individual” and praised the joint effort between law enforcement agencies.
Bell had a firearm in his possession at the time of his arrest, according to police. Investigators later matched it to a shell casing from the shooting scene, police said in a news release.
Jurors convicted Bell after a two-day trial at the Manatee County Judicial Center in downtown Bradenton, according to police.
Bell faces a maximum possible sentence of life in prison, according to the State Attorney’s Office. The minimum mandatory for attempted first-degree murder with a firearm is 25 years in prison and 10 years for armed kidnapping.
Prosecutors say they are seeking enhanced sentencing under Florida’s three-time violent felony offender law, which would make life in prison the mandatory sentence if granted.
“The defendant’s reprehensible actions back on June 5, 2023, irrevocably affected both of the victims’ lives,” Assistant State Attorney Charlie Lawrence said in a statement provided to the Bradenton Herald. “We hope this verdict provides them a sense of justice.”
A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date.
This story was originally published March 14, 2025 at 3:07 PM.
