Fugitive caught after search, standoff

TITUSVILLE, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - It was tense afternoon in Titusville as the SWAT team and agents with the U.S. Marshals Service went door to door, looking for a fugitive.

The trouble started around 9 a.m. on Friday morning.  Titusville PD was helping the marshals with a warrant for Kenneth Lamar Bell, 28.  They spotted Bell walking out of a gas station convenience store.  As investigators started closing in on Bell, authorities said he ran.

“Instead of giving up, he rammed a police vehicle and ran off on foot that’s how this began,” said Titusville Police Deputy Chief Todd Hutchinson.  

Investigators immediately took the passenger in Bell’s car into custody, while others chased after Bell across Cheney Highway.  

“It’s a particularly dangerous situation. You’ve got an armed individual holed up hiding, and we’re searching for him,” said Hutchinson. “Our first goal was to set a perimeter to get him locked down like we did, and it was a matter of being meticulous going door to door -- checking every single facility building in the area.”

K-9 units and Brevard County Sheriffs Office Aviation unit were called in for back up and  persistence finally paid off, five hours later.  TPD says the SWAT team found Bell holed up in an empty shed behind a trailer.  

“Thankfully nobody got hurt today,” Hutchinson said.  

Once the manhunt was over, investigators searched through Bell’s car, pulling out two guns, ammunition, narcotics and lots of cash, they said.  

The US Marshals Service said they initially had a warrant for Bell on possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, felony possession of a firearm, and felony possession of firearm in furtherance of drug offense.  Investigator say there will be several new charges stemming from Bell’s activities Friday morning.