A 46-year-old Florida fisherman was arrested by the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service after he reportedly shot and stabbed his captain causing “immediate, profuse bleeding” on Friday, September 27.
Robert Odom, the fisherman, was working on a commercial fishing vessel about 20-26 nautical miles south-southeast of Perdido Pass; almost 25 nm off the Florida Panhandle with a captain and two crewmembers. According to the other member of the crew who provided testimony to a CGIS investigating officer, Odom thought that the captain and the crew-member were intending to kill him.
Odom climbed up at the top of the wheelhouse and when the master approached him in order to confront him, he reportedly shot him in the chest with a pellet gun and then stabbed him twice with a large knife, causing extreme bleeding.
The captain then managed to get away form Odom, climb down from the wheelhouse roof and radio the U.S. Coast Guard. Afterwards, he, along with the other crew member, managed to lock themselves inside the wheelhouse and waited for the USCG.
In fact, the US Department of Justice states that the “Coast Guard and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers responded to a call for help, and Coast Guard personnel administered first aid to the captain. The captain was taken by helicopter to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola. Odom was taken into custody by the United States Coast Guard Investigative Service“.
The fisher is now being held for assault by the United States Marshals Service and is pending a detention and probable cause hearing on Thursday, October 3, 2019, at 2:30 pm CST at the United States Courthouse in Pensacola, according to the Department of Justice.
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