Brevard County Grand Jury Indicts Thomas Pastor Jr. for First-Degree Premeditated Murder
By Space Coast Daily // March 22, 2023
murder happened on February 11, 2023
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – The Brevard Grand Jury Indicted 24-year-old Thomas Pastor Jr. for First-Degree Premeditated Murder in connection to the shooting death of 48-year-old Michael Akerberg.
On February 11, 2023, just before midnight, Palm Bay Police responded to a 911 call of a gunshot victim at 1035 Cromey Rd.
Upon arrival, officers found Akerberg lying in the front yard, unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds. Akerberg was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Witnesses identified Pastor as the person who had shot him.
Investigators learned that Akerberg was engaged to Pastor’s mother and was moving into the family home at 1027 Cromey Road when a heated argument began with Pastor.
The dispute escalated, and Pastor retrieved a firearm from his bedroom and shot Akerberg. Wounded, Akerberg fled on foot, with Pastor pursuing and shooting him again in the yard of a neighboring residence.
Pastor fled the scene but soon after surrendered to police at a relative’s home in West Melbourne. Police recovered the involved firearm, and Pastor was held without bond in the Brevard County Jail.
The Grand Jury heard testimony from the Brevard Medical Examiner, a Palm Bay Police detective and crime scene investigator before returning with the indictment.
