Search For Murder Suspect Continues, Girlfriend Faces Accessory Charge: Sarasota Police

SARASOTA, FL — The girlfriend of a man wanted for second-degree murder in Sarasota was arrested Wednesday and now faces her own charge, Sarasota police said in a news release.

Tierra Driver, 26, of Sarasota was charged with accessory after the fact in connection with a fatal shooting that happened outside a convenience store on Dr. Martin Luther King Way in the early morning hours of Jan. 6, police said.

Police are continuing the search for her boyfriend, Johnny D. Evans, 22, who is accused of shooting a man to death outside Moore's Grocery. An arrest warrant was issued for him Jan. 7.

Evans is 6 feet, 1 inch tall and 170 pounds. Police say he's considered armed and dangerous. His last known address is 1550 North Lockwood Ridge Road in Sarasota.

Police believe he may have left Florida and could be in Mississippi. Driver withheld information about Evans’ whereabouts and drove him out of state, investigators said.

According to the probable cause affidavit, she rented a car about 14 hours after the shooting. It was later seen in Tallahassee. When she returned the car to the rental company, it showed she had driven more than 1,800 miles in it.

When interviewed by police Jan. 9, Driver said Evans told her that he left his car running when he went into the convenience store on Jan. 6.

As he left the store, he saw a man driving away in his car, so he pulled the man out of it, Driver told police. Evans told her that the man “was reaching behind him like he was going to pull a weapon on him, and he had to shoot him,” according to the affidavit.

Driver claimed she hadn’t seen Evans since early Jan. 6.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Maria Llovio at 941-263-6836 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers by calling 941-366-TIPS (8477) or online at www.sarasotacrimestoppers.com.