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Andrew Coffee IV charged with murder of Alteria Woods in Indian River County

Posted at 7:07 PM, Jul 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-07-20 05:16:48-04

The grand jury has exonerated the officer and deputies who fired their weapons during the incident that killed 21-year-old Alteria Woods in Marchaccording to the Indian River County Sheriff's Office. 

During the same deliberations, the grand jury returned what's called a "true bill" for Andrew Coffee IV, charging him with murder in the death of Woods.

RELATED: Alteria Woods' family demand more answers

Coffee IV was formally charged Wednesday afternoon with second-degree murder with a firearm, three counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer by discharging a firearm, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and shooting or throwing a deadly missile.

Coffee IV remains in the Indian River County Jail and is now being held without bond.

Indian River County Sheriff Deryl Loar said in a statement, "Has Coffee IV not fired upon our deputies during their lawful attempt to serve a search warrant, Alteria would be alive today."

Family of Alteria Woods doesn't understand how Coffee IV can be charged with murder when his bullets never hit Woods.

"He didn't pull the trigger, so why should he be held accountable?" said Kaleasha Johnson, Alteria Woods' cousin.

Attorney Jeff Hendriks presented all the available evidence to a grand jury of at least 15 people. “They heard from approximately 30 witnesses on this case,” Hendriks said. “They very intelligently went through all the evidence.”

Johnson also questions why the law enforcement officers involved are back to work.

“Why would you shoot into a house? You don’t know who’s in there, how many people are in there, you just shoot. That was careless,” Johnson said.

Now, she's calling on the community to continue supporting her family.

Officials say, during the same search warrant, Andrew Coffee III was arrested and charged with felony possession of cocaine with intent to distribute within 1,000-feet of a church, multiple counts of felony possession of a controlled substance (Dilaudid, Clonazepam, Hydropmorphone, Oxycodone), resisting arrest without violence, and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Coffee III is currently being held at the Indian River County Jail on $63,000.00 bond.

On Dec. 18, 2015, during a traffic stop of a moped in the Gifford area, Andrew Coffee II punched Deputy Christopher Lester in the face before removing a handgun from his waistband and firing.

Officials say, Deputy Lester was struck once before returning fire that struck Coffee II, who hobbled away from the scene.

Coffee II was captured a short time later and taken into custody. He remains at the Indian River County Jail without bond on charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, felony battery on a law enforcement officer, and attempted felony murder.