Cellphone data, witnesses, shell casings lead to St. Johns man's arrest

Witness tells deputies Micheal Bacon said, 'Go inside, you didn't see anything'

St. Johns County Sheriff's Office booking photo of Micheal Bacon

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla – T-Mobile cellphone records and a Florida Department of Law Enforcement ballistic analysis helped St. Johns County detectives crack an assault case.

On Friday morning, deputies arrested Micheal Bacon, 28, of St. Johns, on a warrant charging him with:

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  • Two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon
  • Armed burglary
  • Grand theft of a firearm
  • Shooting into vehicle

The arrest stemmed from an incident in May in which deputies said Bacon fired nine bullets into a car occupied by two people. Investigators said six of the nine shots went through the driver side of the vehicle and three of those rounds came close to striking both the driver and the passenger. 

According to an arrest warrant, Bacon saw a white Nissan Altima driving down Harmony Drive South and then asked a woman, whose name was redacted from the report, “Where is that thing?” Deputies said in the report that Bacon was referring to a .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun that belonged to the woman. The report stated that Bacon entered her vehicle, which was parked outside his home on Harmony Drive, and then took the woman’s gun without her permission. 

Deputies noted in the report that two eyewitnesses saw Bacon fire multiple rounds at the white Nissan Altima as the car was approaching Fruit Cove Road. One witness told deputies that Bacon "placed his finger over his lips, 'shushed' and said, 'Go inside, you didn’t see anything,'" the report said.

The report stated that Bacon told the woman he would give her gun back then ran into his house. The report shows the woman told deputies she believed he fired at the people in the car because he believed they were the same people who were responsible for setting fire to a car that belonged to his girlfriend’s mother. According to the report, that alleged arson incident happened the day before the shooting. The report also stated that when deputies spoke to Bacon’s girlfriend, she had an ongoing dispute with an ex-boyfriend who had been stalking and harassing her. She also believed her ex-boyfriend may have been responsible for setting her mom’s car on fire, but also told deputies she did not know what kind of car he drove. 

When deputies spoke with Bacon, he told them he had been out with friends at a bar in Mandarin and denied any knowledge of the shooting. Bacon allowed his cellphone to be seized as part of the investigation.

According to deputies, cell site data revealed Bacon was in the area at the time of the shooting. The arrest warrant shows text records revealed the following messages:

“Wished you wouldn’t have used Kayla’s 40 but it is what it is. Hope he don’t come back for more.”

“Don’t think he can.”

“Run.”

On July 23, an ammunition comparison at the FDLE Crime Lab revealed the casing at the scene matched the spare casing provided by the woman who owned the gun, the warrant said. 

Statements from witnesses, cellphone data and information from the FDLE Crime Lab gave detectives probable cause to get a warrant for Bacon’s arrest. 

Bacon was booked into the St. Johns County Jail shortly before 10 a.m. Friday and his bond was set at $50,000, online jail records show.


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