Detectives: Murder suspect, identified as pastor, calls himself a 'prophet'

Suspect in deadly shooting arrested

A man has been arrested in the fatal shooting of a woman outside her workplace. Authorities said the suspect is the estranged husband of the victim, with whom he shared a home.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Sylvester Ofori made his first appearance before a judge on Wednesday afternoon.

Investigators charged him with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Barbara Tommey, accused of gunning her down before a crowd of people in front of the credit union where she worked.

“There was surveillance footage in the bank at the time,” said Detective Matthew Rogers.

Det. Rogers said Ofori then went home and holed up in the apartment where he had lived with his wife.

“They were going through a divorce, and they were estranged for approximately three months,” Rogers said.

Shannon Hutchison lives right next door. She didn’t know anything was going on until a U.S. Marshall stopped her as she was leaving her apartment complex.

“They were like, 'Hey, have you seen this guy?' and showed me a picture of him. I was like, 'Yeah, I saw that dude yesterday,” Hutchison said.

She said the federal agent told her that Orlando Police believe Ofori killed his wife.

“It’s kind of freaky to think that all happened yesterday and he was literally here all day yesterday,” Hutchison said.

She moved into her apartment in March and said she had seen Tommey leaving for work every weekday morning.

“You know she was really sweet and just like a good neighbor,” Hutchison said.

However, she said she had never seen Orori, until Monday.

“He was on the phone smoking a cigarette just looked irritated. You could see there was some kind of cleaning and purging going on.”

Hutchison said she stayed in her apartment with the door locked. Around dinner time, she said she heard the SWAT team going in for Ofori.

“So much pounding, and it was like, 'This is the police and we have a warrant and you better open up the door!'” Hutchison said. “The only thing I heard them say is they found a gun in the back bedroom.”

Investigators confirmed to FOX 35 News that Ofori serves as a pastor at Floodgates of Heaven Church. His Facebook page shows he has 59,000 followers.

“He called himself a 'prophet.' His followers called him a prophet,” said Lt. Frank Chisari.

Many of his Facebook followers expressed shock over the murder charge against Ofori and sadness about Tommey’s death.