ST. AUGUSTINE BEACH, Fla. – A Georgia fugitive arrested at St. Augustine Beach on Monday afternoon will also face charges that he fired into an occupied apartment in St. Johns County earlier this month.
St. Johns County deputies assisted the U.S. Marshals Service in the arrest of Demon Lawson after he was spotted near the pier and ran into the Embassy Suites hotel.
A supervisor of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force said Lawson, a Savannah resident, was wanted on a probation violation from the Georgia Department of Corrections in connection with a gun charge.
St. Johns County deputies said Lawson was also seen with a gun and shooting into an occupied home in West Augustine earlier this month. local authorities said they plan to file local charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Hotel guests said they stayed away after they saw law enforcement officers swarming the building.
"We weren’t going to go back to the hotel. (We) had no idea what was going on," hotel guest James Murphy said. "They reacted very well with police presence, seemed to get things under control very quickly. (I) never felt scared or endangered, but (was) concerned about what was happening."
According to U.S. marshals, St. Johns County deputies have a pending case that they want to question Lawson about.
Lawson, 26, was booked into the St. Johns County jail at 9:49 p.m. Monday. Online jail records show he was being held without bond.