A parking lot argument over an ex-girlfriend turned into a hatchet-and-machete brawl outside the Publix at Panama City Centre on Tuesday afternoon, leaving two men hospitalized with hand injuries. One of them, Everette Kirchbabum, was arrested the next day in a rural Washington County community more than 30 miles from where the fight broke out.
The confrontation broke out shortly before 3 p.m. Tuesday, according to WJHG-TV, which reported that a verbal argument between the two men over the woman turned physical once edged weapons came out. Both men suffered non-life-threatening injuries that required emergency treatment, the station reported, and their hospital visits delayed the arrest bookings that followed the investigation.
The Second Man in the Fight Has a Violent Past
The fight unfolded in the shopping center's lot at 4601 Lindsey Crossing near U.S. Highway 231, according to WMBB News 13, which covers the commercial corridor serving several residential neighborhoods along Highway 231 in Bay County. Police reports relayed by the station identified the second man in the brawl as 35-year-old James Gay, who allegedly retrieved a machete from his vehicle after Kirchbabum brandished a hatchet. Both men suffered hand injuries, and Kirchbabum briefly lost consciousness during the fight, per the same report.
Gay was released from prison in 2024 after serving 12 years for his role in the 2011 Bay County case known as the "Vampire Cult" murder of 16-year-old Jacob Hendershot, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. The 2011 killing drew extensive regional coverage at the time. It remains unclear whether Gay has been formally taken into custody on any outstanding warrants following his hospital release.
Deputies Track Kirchbabum 35 Miles North to Vernon
Panama City police opened an investigation that resulted in warrants for Kirchbabum's arrest on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Office. Kirchbabum, whose name has also appeared in official releases as Kirchbaum, had fled roughly 35 miles north into Washington County. Deputies assigned to the U.S. Marshals Florida/Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force received information on his possible location, found him at a residence in Vernon on Wednesday, and took him into custody without incident before transporting him to the Washington County Jail.
The case highlights the multi-jurisdictional coordination required when a suspect flees a municipal police jurisdiction into a neighboring rural county, according to WJHG-TV. The task force itself was established in July 2008 under the Presidential Threat Protection Act of 2000 and now operates through 11 regional offices working with more than 90 federal, state, and local agencies, per the U.S. Marshals Service. Those partnerships routinely rely on cross-deputized local sheriff's deputies, like the ones who located Kirchbabum in Vernon. Federal task forces clear thousands of violent felony warrants across Florida each year, and the Florida/Caribbean unit alone executed more than 1,500 felony arrests in a single six-month stretch in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
What Kirchbabum Faces Under Florida Law
Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill is a third-degree felony under Florida law, punishable by up to five years in prison, five years of probation, and a $5,000 fine, according to Online Sunshine. Florida statute defines a deadly weapon broadly, covering any object used in a manner likely to cause death or great bodily harm, a definition that would apply to both a hatchet and a machete.
Investigators have not indicated what charges, if any, Gay will face for his alleged role in the fight, or whether Bay County prosecutors plan to pursue additional weapons charges against either man as the case moves forward.
