Investigators say conflict over vaping, bills and a handgun preceded the fatal shooting of Shaun Allen Hennigh.
GULFPORT, Fla. — A 28-year-old Gulfport man accused of killing his best friend had argued with him about vaping inside their home before the man was shot in the back of the head, police said.
Elisha Christopher Landry is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Shaun Allen Hennigh, 34, his roommate and close friend. The April 17 shooting at a Tangerine Avenue South home was first reported by Landry as a garage death, but police said interviews, text messages, forensic evidence and the autopsy pointed to homicide. The case now places a private household dispute before the courts, with Landry jailed without bond and prosecutors handling the next steps.
Investigators described the two men as best friends who shared a home but also had a volatile living arrangement. Text messages recovered from Hennigh’s phone showed arguments about money, police said. In January, Landry had kicked Hennigh out of the house because Hennigh was inconsistent in paying his portion of bills. Police said Hennigh had to couch surf until he was allowed back. That history became part of the investigation after detectives began looking beyond the single gunshot and into the relationship that came before it. Landry’s girlfriend told police the final dispute began upstairs on April 17, when Landry became angry that Hennigh was vaping inside the house. Hennigh went downstairs toward the garage after the argument, she said.
Police said Landry followed Hennigh downstairs with a 9 mm handgun in his waistband. He told his girlfriend he was going to check on his friend, according to the affidavit. What happened next is disputed only by Landry’s shifting statements, police said, because Hennigh died from a gunshot wound before officers arrived. Landry called 911 at 5:04 a.m. and said, “my best friend’s shot in the garage.” When the dispatcher asked whether Hennigh had shot himself, Landry said he was not sure. He also claimed he had been sitting with Hennigh for about 30 minutes. Investigators later said that account did not match the evidence or witness reports from the area.
Neighbors told police they heard one gunshot and a car alarm at 12:32 a.m., more than four hours before Landry called for help. When first responders reached the home in the 5100 block of Tangerine Avenue South, Hennigh’s body was on the garage floor. Officers said he was cold to the touch and rigor mortis had started. The timing mattered because Landry’s mother was inside the home during those hours, according to police. Investigators said she is a licensed travel nurse with more than a decade of medical experience, but Landry did not wake her and did not ask her to try to help Hennigh. Police also said the body’s condition made the claimed 30-minute waiting period hard to square with what officers found.
Landry later told police that he and Hennigh were “play-fighting” near the driveway when the gun discharged. He said Hennigh had grabbed the handgun from his waistband holster while the two men were acting silly. Asked whether Hennigh had pointed the gun at himself, Landry rejected that idea and said, “No dude! We were just twisting around.” Police said his story changed within seconds. Landry then said Hennigh did not grab the gun from the holster, a statement that contradicted the account he had just given. During a later interview at the police station, after being advised of his rights, Landry could not explain the shot. “I can’t tell you,” he told a detective, according to the affidavit.
The autopsy gave investigators another firm point in the case. The Pinellas County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Hennigh’s death a homicide caused by a single intermediate-range gunshot wound to the back of the head. Police said the bullet entered the rear portion of the skull and traveled upward. That finding ruled out a self-inflicted wound in the way Landry first left open during the 911 call, authorities said. Detectives also focused on Landry’s clothes. He said he held Hennigh for up to 30 minutes after the gun fired, but police said his jeans had only a minimal amount of blood. Landry admitted he put blue jeans over the shorts he had been wearing during the shooting before officers arrived.
The garage and driveway gave police a wider map of the scene than the one described in the 911 call. Investigators found blood spatters on an outdoor bench and in the driveway. They also found a partly dried pool of blood underneath a package delivery storage box outside the garage. Inside the garage, police found apparent blood smears that they said were consistent with a body being dragged from outside to inside. Officers also noted dried blood footprints. Those details led detectives to believe the crime scene had been altered before they got there. Police said the location of blood outside the garage and the condition of the body did not support Landry’s claim that he simply sat with his dying friend after an accidental discharge.
The case moved from death investigation to murder warrant over the next month. Gulfport police said detectives collected evidence, interviewed residents and witnesses, and worked with the State Attorney’s Office for the Sixth Judicial Circuit and the medical examiner. On May 18, Gulfport detectives and the United States Marshals Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested Landry at his home without incident. He was transported to the Pinellas County Jail. The department thanked the federal task force for help with the arrest. Police have not released a full recording of the 911 call or said whether the firearm was recovered. Landry’s next court date was not clear in early public reports.
For Hennigh’s family and friends, the case centers on a death that police say followed an ordinary household argument that turned deadly. For investigators, it centers on whether Landry’s actions after the shot showed knowledge that the shooting was not an accident. The affidavit points to the hours before the 911 call, the failure to wake a nurse inside the home, the added jeans, the blood outside and the changing story about the handgun. Police have not said that the vaping dispute alone explains the killing. They described it as part of a longer pattern of conflict inside the home, including fights over money and repeated times when Hennigh was pushed out.
As of June 17, officials had not publicly announced the next major hearing or any additional arrests and Landry remained in custody without bond as the second-degree murder case awaited further court action.
Author note: Last updated June 17, 2026.