Daytona Beach, FL - Daytona Beach Police officers are investigating two separate shootings that they say are likely connected. DBPD Public Information Officer Messod Bendayan said the first took place yesterday (July 8) afternoon just after 5 p.m. at the intersection of Berkshire Road and 3rd Street.
Dispatch advised officers that shots were fired from a black Nissan passenger car. Officers saw the car headed eastbound on Mason Avenue as they were traveling westbound in response to the shooting. An officer reports that the front two windows were down and he observed a black male, possibly in his early to mid-twenties, in the driver's seat.
Officers turned their marked Daytona Beach police vehicle around, at which point, the Nissan increased it's speed, turning northbound on Nova Road. The police followed but lost the vehicle in traffic.
Dispatch advised the officers about a man who called saying he was shot in the foot in the original altercation. At about the same time, dispatch was notified of a man who had walked into Halifax Hospital with a gunshot wound to the foot. According to the police report, the man said he was outside when the shooting from the black Nissan started. He said he tried to run away but was shot in the left foot. The man said he did not want to press charges and did not want to cooperate.
Daytona Beach Crime Scene Techs collected 16 9mm shell casings and additional bullet fragments at the scene of the shooting. The owner of a beige Honda that had been struck by three bullets and a female witness said she saw a shooter, a Hispanic male about 15 years of age and a younger Hispanic male, running from the area.
The second shooting occurred early this morning, around 1:30 a.m., a few miles away from the earlier shooting. Police found the same black Nissan passenger car, bullet-riddled, parked in the driveway of a home. A vehicle parked next to it had a bullet hole and a front window of the home was shattered with a bullet hole in the center of the window.
Police also found a man sleeping in the car. He told police that he was in the car when it was hit by gunfire but thought he heard fireworks. The man claimed he did not see who shot the vehicle or what kind of car they were in.
The motive for both shootings is under investigation and no arrests have been made at this time. Anyone with information on either incident is asked to contact the Daytona Beach Police Department.
