Two of Florida’s Indian River County School District teachers learned a serious lesson when both were arrested on Sunday, October 10. One shot an innocent man after waking him up before dawn by mistake. If you’re going to crawl in bed for a drunken threesome, it’s a good idea to make sure you’re in the right apartment first.
Noisy night for PE teachers
Surveillance footage is going viral which “shows the strange moment when two PE teachers end up in the wrong apartment after a very noisy night.” It got even more interesting when one climbed into bed with the couple who lived there.
It was a simple misunderstanding but gunfire ensued. Police arrested Darius Cohen and charged him with attempted murder. They’re holding him for a while on $759,000 bail.
The 26-year-old teachers, Darius Tion Cohen, and Akkua Jamel Hallback were “dismissed” pending the full investigation of what happened around 4 a.m. that morning. The dynamic duo were “at a bar in Vero Beach” where Hallback allegedly met a woman. They followed her back to her place and Cohen waited outside while Hallback went in.
“A few hours later,” Hallback came back to his car but by then, Cohen “had to use the bathroom.” Intending to return to the woman’s apartment, they walked in the wrong door, which happened to be unlocked. They never noticed.
While Cohen headed for the facilities, Hallback decided on another round of pleasure and climbed back in bed. Things get a little confusing with the trespassing teachers after that in the various press reports. TCPalm has the most lucid version.
The victim relates, “he and his family were asleep when he woke up to one intruder in his bedroom and Cohen in one of the bathrooms.” He asked what they “were doing inside his apartment and they told him they were in the wrong place.” It could have ended there but it didn’t.
Taking it to the streets
The resident “did not recognize either man,” his affidavit verifies. He “walked outside with the two men to continue to learn why they were inside the apartment. That’s when he and Cohen started fighting.” The victim bailed.
“As he did, Cohen fired several shots, striking the man in the back.” The teachers knew they had been in the wrong apartment but Cohen started blasting at a retreating target, just to prove a point.
The unidentified apartment dweller “was treated at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute in Fort Pierce, and was expected to survive,” the Sheriff’s office reports.
Hallback was charged with drug possession because police found Adderall on him without a prescription. Both were PE teachers but at different schools. Cohen was at Indian River Academy while Hallback, is in charge of molding the students at Sebastian Elementary School.
Police still haven’t figured out the answers to such test questions as “who owns the gun?” Or, “what happened just before the shooting?” The security video shows a man “running off-screen across the lawn before the two teachers follow.” Immediately after they disappear, you can hear four shots fired.
Despite the gunshot wound, the man “kept running until he found a friendly apartment, where he called 911.” The suspects claim that “the resident first pulled out the gun and Cohen was trying to steal it from him.” That doesn’t explain why Cohen shot him in the back as he was running away. Police found two guns when they searched the house the two men share. They “have not yet been examined to see if they match the one used in the shooting.”