Slocomb man charged with murder in Crestview, Fla.

Authorities arrested a Slocomb man Wednesday on charges he shot his brother to death in Florida earlier this week.

Slocomb Police Chief Don White said police arrested Eddie Dene Rice, 28, on a murder warrant, charging him in the shooting death of Jeffery Brown late Sunday evening. White said Slocomb Police Lt. Allen Cole caught Rice around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday as he walked on a dirt road about three miles off Alabama Highway 52.

Officers with several agencies helped search for Rice, including the Slocomb Police Department, Crestview, Fla., Police Department, the Dothan Police Department and the Houston County Sheriff’s Office.

Crestview Police Maj. Joseph Floyd said police detectives also charged Rice’s half brother, 35-year-old Jasper Brown, as an accessory to the murder. Both men, charged with murder, are held without bond in the Okaloosa County Jail in Florida.

Floyd said Rice was charged with using a .12-gauge shotgun to fatally shoot Jeffery Brown. Floyd said the shooting happened while about a dozen people gathered around a fire in a barrel in the front yard of a Crestview residence.

“The shot was almost point blank, and he died almost immediately,” Floyd said. “They were arguing over a female who was there.”

Floyd said both Jasper Brown and Rice have extensive criminal histories. Brown was arrested shortly after the shooting, and Rice had been wanted for three days when he was caught in Slocomb.

“It wouldn’t have been possible to apprehend this violent felon without the cooperation of Slocomb and Dothan police departments,” Floyd said.