ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (TCD) -- Police recently arrested a 23-year-old man in New Jersey on suspicion of shooting a man, killing his 20-year-old girlfriend, and leaving the couple's 1-year-old daughter to die in a hot car nearly three years ago.
According to a press conference from Orange County Sheriff John Mina, on Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2021, at around 5 a.m., deputies responded to the 1900 block of Lake Heritage Circle in reference to a shooting. At the scene, deputies located a male victim in his 20s who had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. He was transported to the hospital and survived his injuries.
Two days later, one of the shooting victim's family members told law enforcement they could not reach the man's girlfriend, Massania Malcolm, and the couple's 1-year-old daughter Jordania.
Once the shooting victim gained consciousness, he told deputies that his friend, Doujon Griffiths, allegedly shot him from the back seat of the vehicle as he was driving. The victim reportedly believed Griffiths shot his girlfriend as well and drove off with her and Jordania.
According to Mina, officials later found the vehicle in a parking lot on Lake Ellenor Drive. Inside the car, investigators found the bodies of Malcolm and her daughter. Malcolm reportedly died of a gunshot wound, and the 1-year-old likely passed away due to the heat of the car. They had allegedly been dead for two days before the discovery.
Further investigation revealed the suspect had been staying with the victims after he became homeless, WESH-TV reports. Detectives told the news source that tension arose because of Griffiths' alleged "lack of contribution to the household for the amount of time he had stayed there."
Malcolm and her boyfriend reportedly drove Griffiths to a bus stop on Sept. 7, 2021, and asked him to leave. That's when he allegedly shot the boyfriend in the vehicle, WESH reports.
In an update posted March 26, the Orange County Sheriff's Office said Linden Police Department officers in New Jersey arrested Griffiths last week. Officers performed a traffic stop on the suspect's vehicle when they learned about his outstanding first-degree murder warrants out of Orange County, Florida. He will be extradited back to Florida to face those charges, as well as attempted murder.
In a statement, the sheriff's office said, "No matter how many years have passed, we never forget our victims, and we hope this arrest brings some sense of peace and closure to our community and the two families shattered by this horribly tragic case."
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