Deputies search for two men after fatal shooting

Correction: The gunshot victim's name was spelled incorrectly in earlier versions of this article online.

OCALA – Marion County sheriff's investigators are searching for two men who they say shot and killed an Ocala man at his front door Sunday evening.

Deputies arrived at 951 N.W. 59th Ave. at about 6:15 p.m. Sunday to find Marvin Travis Wilkerson, 45, unconscious and not breathing. He was taken by ambulance to Munroe Regional Medical Center.

Wilkerson was pronounced dead at the hospital, said Peveeta Persaud, a Marion County Fire Rescue spokeswoman.

Wilkerson's wife, Deborah, told investigators that two men knocked on the home's door at about 6:10 p.m. and Wilkerson opened the door. Crime scene investigator Lt. Bill Sowder said Wilkerson reportedly saw that at least one of the men had a gun and turned away. He was shot in the back.

Deborah Wilkerson left the home through a window in the back of the house, Sowder said.

Deputies searched the rural neighborhood off State Road 40, west of Interstate 75, on the ground and from the air, looking for the two men. According to a Sheriff’s Office news release, one was a black male, possibly with dreadlocks, wearing a white T-shirt, and the other was a black male wearing a black shirt and carrying a long gun.

They may have left the area in a white four-door vehicle, the release states.

On Sunday night, the neighborhood, with its unlit limerock roads, was almost pitch black. On Monday morning, a lone deputy guarded the home with his patrol car. Dogs barked and a rooster crowed from behind the home's privacy fence.

Wilkerson's neighbors talked in near disbelief about what had happened the night before. Nearby resident Tony Jones called his neighborhood a quiet one.

"There ain't too much stuff that happens around here," he said. "We didn't hear anything."

Neither did Cleo Persley, who lives behind Wilkerson.

"I was laying in bed and got a phone call that one of our neighbors had been shot," Persley said. "I thought to myself, 'No, not Marvin.' He was a fine fellow."

Persley said Wilkerson was a respectful neighbor, a man who had lent a helping hand many times.

"Our water pump went out, and he ran water to our house with a hose for a week," Persley said. "He wouldn't let us even pay him back.

"He always had a laugh, always had a smile. He was always on the go."

The Sheriff's Office is urging anyone with information about the case to call Crime Stoppers at 368-STOP.

Joe VanHoose may be reached at joe.vanhoose@starbanner.com or at 867-4124.