During Set-Up At Sarasota Auto Repair Shop, Would-Be Robber Shot And Killed: Police

SARASOTA, FL — Two people face charges related to the fatal shooting of a man collaborating with them on a robbery scheme at a Sarasota business Saturday morning, officials said.

The shooting victim, whose name is being withheld under Marsy’s Law, was killed during a robbery set-up at Switchen Lanes, an auto repair shop at 3000 N. Washington Blvd., according to a probable cause affidavit from Sarasota police.

William Abnar, 29, of Bradenton and Ka’Liyah Brown, 18, of Sarasota have been charged with murder while engaged in a robbery and attempted robbery with a firearm, police said.

When police responded to reports of a shooting at the auto repair shop around 6:40 a.m., they found the victim lying in the road with a gunshot wound to his chest. He was taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Earlier that morning, Brown went to the shop with a friend, another woman, after a man called an escort service seeking a prostitute, the affidavit said. Abnar followed them to the shop in a separate car and met with the unnamed victim, who helped plan the robbery, there.

The man who called the escort service paid Brown $320 for her services because he didn’t have the full $350 he agreed to pay her in advance.

After she was handed the cash, Brown went into a bathroom in the building and could be heard talking to someone on the phone, the second woman told police. When Brown left the bathroom, she told the man at the shop that she needed to go outside to turn off her car. He became suspicious because he thought she would leave with his money, police said.

When Brown and her friend went outside, they found Abnar and the victim holding guns and wearing masks. They agreed to let the two men into the building, according to the affidavit.

The man at the repair shop was waiting in the doorway, holding a gun behind his back, and moved toward the masked men.

After the friend heard three or four shots fired, she went into the common area of the shop, locking herself and Brown in the room while they called 911, according to the affidavit.

The shooter admitted to police that he called an escort service and arranged to meet with Brown at his auto repair shop. He said that she went outside and was followed by two armed, masked men as she came back into the building.

He told police he armed himself with a handgun and shot the victim in self-defense after the victim pointed a gun directly at him.

Brown lied to police, telling them that she went to the auto repair shop to collect money owed to her friend for drugs, according to the affidavit. She told investigators that the man at the shop “grabbed a handgun and started shooting” at the victim.

Video surveillance footage from the repair shop corroborated statements made by the second woman and the shooter, the affidavit said.

“It was evident that Abnar and Brown participated in setting up the attempted robbery that led to the death of (the victim,)” police said.

Anyone with information about the incident has asked to call the Sarasota Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division at 941-263-6070.