Officials: Florida fire chief is arrested on murder charge

The Associated Press

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — Authorities in Florida say the chief of a volunteer fire department is accused of fatally shooting a business owner because the victim owed him money. The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office says 52-year-old Brian Keith Easterling was taken into custody at his home in Holt, Florida, and is awaiting extradition from the nearby county of Okaloosa in the Panhandle. The 63-year-old shop owner was not identified by officials. He was found shot to death inside his business in Pensacola. The sheriff’s office says surveillance video from the shop captured the killing. Easterling is chief of the Baker Fire District, a volunteer fire department in the Florida Panhandle.