Overview
- A judge denied bond on the murder and attempted-murder counts and set $35,000 on the firearm charge, with another hearing set for May.
- A Brevard County grand jury indicted Clifford O. Long, 37, on first-degree premeditated murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
- Investigators say the Aug. 29, 2025 attack unfolded inside a Poplar Lane home in Melbourne, where the shooter wounded grandmother Alicia Hayes in a hallway and shot Bles'syn Lightner and her grandfather, Haywood Hilton, in a bedroom.
- Detectives identified Long after months of follow-up when Hilton described the gunman and later picked Long in a police photo lineup.
- The medical examiner found the child died from a close-range shot to the forehead, the grandparents were hospitalized and survived, and Hayes said the arrest brought her some relief.