Palm Coast Man Charged In Pistol-Whipping Near Town Center

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Palm Coast, FL - A 19-year-old is locked up at Flagler County Jail, charged with pistol-whipping a friend and firing off a round which shattered the windshield of an acquaintance's vehicle in the parking lot of a shopping mall near Palm Coast Town Center.

Christopher C. Quijano - a Palm Coast resident - was arrested at a home on Colony Court within a few hours of that incident around 9 p.m Saturday at the Target Shopping Plaza off State Road 100.

The Flagler County Sheriff's Office says the man who was pistol-whipped got into an argument with Quijano inside of the Ross store because he felt Quijano was being disrespectul and yelling at his (Quijano's) girlfriend.

The argument re-started just outside of the store in the parking lot, according to the arrest report, with Quijano pulling a black handgun from his waistband, chambering a round and striking his friend with the gun in the right cheek and right ear, causing cuts in those areas.

That's also when the shot was fired, something one of the other four people with Quijano and his friend at the time claims Quijano told him was accidental after it happened, per the report.

"[Quijano] is lucky that no one was killed when he fired a round in a shopping center parking lot," Sheriff Rick Staly added. "This young man is no stranger to law enforcement and at just 19 years old, he needs to turn his life around."

No other injuries were reported, though the bullet fired from Quijano's gun did end up in the back of a headrest in the same vehicle whose back windshield was shattered. That vehicle belonged to another one of the four people who witnessed the attack.

Quijano is held on $100,000 bond at Flagler County Jail on felony counts of aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated assault with a firearm. He also faces a misdemeanor charge of shooting a gun in public.

FCSO says Quijano's been arrested in the past on a slew of other charges, including grand theft, domestic violence, marijuana possession, giving a false name to authorities, failing to appear in court and violating probation.