City's First Homicide in 2 Years Being Investigated

The Bradenton Police Department is investigating the city's first homicide in two years after officers found a man dead from a gunshot wound Thursday in the 2900 block of 29th Avenue West, according to a report from Bradenton Police Chief Michael Radzilowski.

The victim's identity is being withheld until police can notify his next of kin.

According to the report, the police were called out to a house on 29th Avenue West on a report of an unresponsive person just before midnight on Thursday. When officers arrived, they found a man who had died of a gunshot wound.

Captain Warren T. Merriman III, commander of the department's patrol division, said that no one called in reports of gunshots overnight, "which is weird, because last time we got numerous calls when there was a gun shot in that neighborhood."

Detectives were out canvassing the neighborhood last night, looking for witnesses or clues in the shooting. Merriman said most of the neighbors were sleeping last night. Police were back in the area Friday morning knocking on doors.

The medical examiner was performing an autopsy Friday, and crime scene investigators are out at the house where the body was discovered, Merriman said.

Merriman said it does not appear that the shooting is related to any recent crimes, including home invasions, that the Manatee County Sheriff's Office has been investigating.

Officers do not have a suspect at this time. 

It is the city's first homicide since 2009. Crime rates in Bradenton have been on a steady decline since 2004.

Follow Patch for more details, including the victim's identity.