Sean Rossman

Democrat staff writer

Steve G. Lincoln — the man charged with homicide in the Sunday shooting of 33-year-old Vicki Hoffman — was arrested Tuesday in southern Michigan.

The Tallahassee Police Department on Tuesday morning issued a warrant for Lincoln, Hoffman's roommate at the Plantations at Pine Lake apartment complex in north Tallahassee. However, his whereabouts were unknown.

By the afternoon, TPD said the 55-year-old FedEx worker was taken into custody in Jackson County, Michigan, by state police and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Hoffman's 10-year-old son, a Gilchrist Elementary School student, was the key witness, according to newly released details of the crime.

The boy told investigators he was in his room shortly before 9 p.m. when he heard Hoffman and Lincoln arguing.

Lincoln "lost his temper, the boy recalled. His mother yelled, "No," followed by two gunshots.

Hoffman, bleeding from gunshot wounds in her arm, pelvis and abdomen, crawled into her son's room and asked him to call police. He rushed to a neighbor's house to call 911. On the way, he saw Lincoln leave the apartment and get into his silver Buick.

Officers arrived at unit 713 at the Plantations at Pine Lake apartment complex to find .45 caliber shell casings and an injured Hoffman. They gave first aid and could barely make out her words, although she was able to identify the man who shot her as, "Steven." Hoffman, who most recently was a bookkeeper with the Killearn Homes Association, was rushed to Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, where she died just before 5 a.m. on Monday.

The boy was able to fill in the gaps where his mother couldn't, providing investigators a "very detailed description" of the man who shot his mother.

Single mom, 33, killed in Sunday shooting

He said he had known Lincoln, who he referred to as "Steve," for about three years. He said he was a tall, slender, white man with gray and black hair and a "cigarette voice."

The boy added he had seen guns in Lincoln's bedroom before. TPD investigators and forensics specialists found three .45 caliber shell casings in the 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment.

Two other firearms were found on the scene but not the weapon used in the shooting, identified as a semi-automatic handgun. The two bullets found in Hoffman's body, police said, appeared to be the same caliber used in the gun missing from Lincoln's bedroom.

Also in Lincoln's bedroom was a Transportation Security Administration application and a FedEx jacket with Lincoln's name embroidered on the inside.

Public records show Lincoln had suffered financial problems and lived in various places, with addresses in Naples, Memphis and several towns in Michigan.

He filed for bankruptcy twice, both times in Michigan, first in 2002 and most recently in 2015, when he listed more than $23,000 in debts for loans and unpaid credit cards.

Contact Sean Rossman at srossman@tallahassee.com or follow @SeanRossman on Twitter.