UPDATE 2:43 pm: The Flagler Beach Police Department has confirmed the victim is an 18-year-old male. His injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. The FBPD is asking those with information relevant to the case to contact the Flagler County Sheriff's Office at (386) 313-4911, or Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida at 1-800-277-TIPS.
A man was shot in Flagler Beach on Sunday just outside the city fire station, authorities have confirmed. The victim bled into the street before being dragged away by a witness, and then taken for treatment. No suspect is in custody as of Monday afternoon, nor has one been identified.
Accounts of what happened still vary in the immediate aftermath, and Flagler Beach Police Chief Matt Doughney is still refraining from specifics. What appears to be known is that the victim was shot in the arm, and was taken to Halifax Medical Center for treatment. Chief Doughney said Monday that he is believed to be in stable condition. The victim has also not yet been identified, though differing accounts have placed him at 18 or 20 years old.
A witness to the shooting, whose accounts have not been confirmed or endorsed by investigators, said he heard seven or eight shots in the street in front of him while he was outside. "I grabbed him, dragged him right here," the witness said from his front porch on Flagler Ave. He said he didn't hear any yelling or buildup before the shooting started, and that he only briefly glimpsed another person, possibly the shooter, fleeing around the corner a couple blocks south.
The witness described both individuals as Black males, but he only got a good look at the victim. He said the only words they spoke were when the victim told him he was standing on his fingers. He ran inside his house to get the victim water, he said, and when he came back out the victim was gone. He'd been taken across the street to the fire station for first aid.
Outside the fire station, a single bullet is enclosed in crime tape after apparently ricocheting off the station. There were still areas on Flagler Ave as of Monday where the victim's blood was splattered in the road, covering a distance of several yards. The witness identified a large stain on his porch as being where the victim bled there, before he tried to wash it away with water and chlorine.
For the Flagler Beach Police Department, the investigation is being conducted by Detective Rosanna Vinci, one of the agency's most tenured investigators. Chief Doughney refrained from much definitive comment on the witness' account, but cautioned the public to be skeptical of hearsay and rumors. The witness said the victim had been shot in the left arm, where Doughney said it was the right one.
The circumstances leading up to the shooting remain unclear, beyond a few vague indicators of youthful rowdiness. "I know there were a lot of kids here yesterday," Doughney said. "Even my officers notice there are a lot of kids here [...] I have no idea why they were all here."
For people who live in the area, the shooting is a rare occurrence; relatively little violent crime happens east of the Intracoastal Waterway in Flagler County. "These types of incidents don't happen very often in Flagler Beach," Doughney continued. It should be an eye opening awakening that just because we're a small, safe city, we're not immune to this. It's the way the world is today: people carrying guns, which is extremely dangerous."
The witness said he didn't feel especially endangered or traumatized by what transpired so close to his home. "It's super safe [in Flagler Beach]," he said. "Everyone gets along. It's a family neighborhood. Everyone helps everyone."
