DeLand Man Shoots Another Man In Living Dispute

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Jeremy M. Blais
(Volusia County Jail)

DeLand, FL - An ongoing dispute over living arrangements sees a DeLand man shot in the abdomen and another charged with trying to murder him.

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office took 30-year-old Jeremy M. Blais into custody last night (April 7th) following the incident at a property on West Palmetto Avenue just southwest of the intersection of U.S. 17/North Woodland Boulevard and U.S. 92/East International Speedway Boulevard.

First responders arrived at the property around 9:40 p.m., finding the victim lying inside the house with a gunshot wound in his stomach, according to VCSO spokesperson Andrew Gant.

"Witnesses said he’d just been shot by Jeremy Blais, who was living in a van parked outside the house," Gant noted. "Blais ran from the scene after the shooting and ended up at a nearby Denny’s restaurant on Woodland Boulevard."

Those same witnesses also told VCSO that Blais was apparently triggered when the victim moved some of Blais' property onto the driveway.

"Witnesses said there was no altercation or confrontation before Blais fired at the victim," Gant noted.

According to Gant, Blais asked several people outside the Denny's for help and they directed him to a DeLand Police Department patrol vehicle parked across the street.

"Blais threw his handgun in a Denny’s trash can and went to the DeLand PD officer," Gant noted.

The victim was wheeled into surgery soon after he was airlifted to Central Florida Regional Hospital in Sanford. He's expected to pull through, per Gant.

Blais is held without bond at Volusia County Jail on a charge of attempted murder. His first court appearance is scheduled for this afternoon.

VCJ records show Blais has been booked there nine other times since June 2008, including most recently in November 2012 on a grand theft charge.

Court documents show he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge in November 2017 and felony charges of grand theft and burglary in July 2011.

Blais was eventually sentenced to 36 months of probation after agreeing to enter a drug offender program for the latter charges, which he was released from in September 2013.

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