- April 23, 2024
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A man shot and injured another man outside the BP Circle K gas station on State Road 100 in Bunnell after 8 p.m. April 21, Easter Sunday, according to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office. The FCSO is seeking the public's help to identify the suspect, who is described as a thin black male, between 5-foor-6 inches and 5-foot-10-inches tall, and in his late teens or early twenties, according to an FCSO news release.
The victim, who was shot in the back, has been hospitalized, and the Sheriff's Office has not determined a motive for the shooting at this point, Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Brittany Kershaw said.
"All we’ve been told is there was some sort of argument within a very large group of people, and this individual just started firing," she said. Deputies believe he fired at least four rounds at the victim, according to the news release.
Deputies do not believe at this point that the shooting is in any way related to the recent shooting of 18-year-old Flagler Palm Coast High School student Curtis Gray, who was shot and killed on April 13. (A suspect is in custody in connection with that case.) They also do not believe that the shooting was gang-related.
The shooting occurred at 8:14 p.m., when Sheriff's Office deputies who were helping Bunnell Police Department officers provide security for a large gathering heard five to eight gunshots near the Circle K at 500 East Moody Boulevard, according to a deputy's case report on the shooting.
"I observed a large crowd of people in front of the store yelling," the deputy wrote in the report. "Everyone outside was advising a male by the name '(redacted)' shot somebody but the victim left the scene."
The Sheriff's Office now believes that the name initially given to deputies at the scene of the crime was not the name of the shooter, Kershaw said.
After the deputies started collecting evidence at the Circle K — where they got surveillance footage of the shooting suspect — people flagged the deputies down, reporting more gunshots from East Court Street and South Moore Street, about a block south.
When the deputies arrived at East Court and South Moore and asked bystanders if they'd seen anything, people said they had not seen anything but had heard gunshots.
The deputies searched the area and checked parked vehicles, according to the case report, but didn't find the shooter. The Sheriff's Office does not believe anyone was injured at this second shooting scene, Kershaw said.
The agency is not releasing details about the victim's condition or identity beyond the fact that he was hospitalized and is alive.
The FCSO, in a post on its official Facebook page, has asked anyone with information about the shooting or the identity of the shooter to contact the FCSO at 386-313-4911 or e-mail [email protected]. Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous can do so by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-888-277-TIPS (8477). Crime Stoppers tipsters are also eligible for a reward up to $5,000.
“Help us identify this offender and get him off the streets and into the Green Roof Inn where he belongs before he can hurt anyone else,” Sheriff Rick Staly said, according to the news release. “He put numerous lives in jeopardy last night.”
