Arrest of murder of Coast Guard member

JACKSONVILLE, Florida –A man was arrested early Tuesday morning in connection with the murder of an active-duty member of the U.S. Coast Guard last week in the city’s Riverside neighborhood, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said.

Tyree Parker, 22, is charged with second degree murder.

JSO chief of investigations TK Waters said that in the early morning hours of August 3, Caroline Schollaert called police to report that her vehicle was broken into outside her Myra Street home. Waters said that while on the phone with dispatchers, she confronted the suspected burglar, holding him at gunpoint and ordering him to stay until police arrived. He did not comply and instead fired a handgun multiple times, hitting Schollaert, Waters said.

Schollaert, 27, died of her injuries.

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Following a week-long search, in which surveillance footage was made public and a $ 20,000 reward offered for information on the case, an arrest warrant was issued on Monday evening. . Waters said Parker surrendered around midnight. According to Waters, “other possible charges” are pending.

Parker was being held at Duval County Jail without bond on Tuesday afternoon. His first appearance is scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Waters said the gun used in the shooting was stolen from an unlocked vehicle in the same neighborhood 11 days before the incident.

Schollaert served in the Coast Guard for eight years. She was posted to the HITRON unit in Jacksonville – a specialist helicopter squadron dedicated to drug bans.

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Family and friends have said that she is a loving daughter, fiancee and friend to many.

Her father was convinced an arrest would be made, saying investigators had the evidence.

The arrest of Schollaert’s death comes on the same day that a memorial was held at Cecil Airport, with more than 100 Coast Guard members remembering Schollaert’s life.

Schollaert’s family will now take her home, where she is from, near Richmond, Virginia.