BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) — A Panama City man facing the death penalty is once again proclaiming his innocence. Michael Hunt is accused of shooting three people and killing a fourth at an Allen Avenue home in April of 2019.
Hunt said he now has documentation of conversations between police and witnesses. He claimed all three of those witnesses now say he was not at the shooting.
“This woman is clearly stating, ‘hey look it was not Michael Hunt,'” Hunt said.
Michael Hunt has been sitting in the Bay County jail for 40 months, charged with a mass shooting.
In September 2018 Hunt was charged with having sex with minors. During a court hearing in April 2019, he learned he was facing another arrest warrant. He walked out of court and disappeared for several days.
During that timeframe, four people were shot in a home in the Cove, the same home where the minor sex victim lived.
One of the residents died in the shooting.
Hunt previously told News 13 he was in Alabama and Atlanta, raising money for his bond.
He said the three shooting survivors all told police Hunt was not involved in the crime.
“The attorney asked her, ‘when this goes to trial, and you’re on a witness stand and you’re asked whether you saw Michael Hunt in that house, or you saw Michael Hunt with a gun in that house, or you saw Michael Hunt shoot somebody in that house, what is your answer going to be?”’ Hunt said.
“If three eyewitnesses are telling you that these were skinny dudes and it wasn’t Michael Hunt, that should raise some eyebrows,” he said. “Why charge me without doing some further investigation?”
Hunt has a criminal past. He was sentenced to prison in 2011 for drug trafficking, grand theft, and living off the earnings of a prostitute.
But Hunt claimed he is innocent of the 2018 shooting and is willing to admit to a gunshot residue test.
“I don’t understand the schematics of GSR, but I’m sure if you shot a gun it’s not something you can wash off,” Hunt said. “But no GSR was done. Why? There’s no physical evidence. If you’re trying to tie this man to it, GSR him.”
Hunt is scheduled for trial on Oct. 17. He is charged with first-degree murder and three counts of attempted first-degree murder. Prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty.
Panama City Police denied News 13’s request for comment.
