Homicides continue unabated: 5 slain by gunfire, 1 run over & another beaten to death
Headline Surfer snapshot locator map / Shots were fieed just before 5:48 a.m. Sunday in a room at the Sunshine Inn, 12 34 S. Ridgewood, where police found a man dead in room 108.DAYTONA BEACH -- Gunshot blasts woke up guests inside the Sunshine Inn, a rundown motel on South Ridgewood and when cops got there, they found a black man in his early 40s dead in a pool of blood inside one of the rooms. Police received at least one 9-1-1 at 5:48 a.m. about shots being fired, but very little other than the frightened caller saying he heard the gunfire.
When cops responded to the motel, 1234 S. Ridgewood Ave., which advertises its rates online as $40 a night, they found the victim's body on the floor inside room 108. Very little was provided in a press release, written by DBPD spokesman Jimmy Flynt, which simply stated: "Upon arrival units observed a B/M in room 108 lying on the floor, the B/M had suffered a gunshot wound to his body, which cause(d) his death."
The release went on to state that they have no suspect ad have not been able to find any witnesses who may have witnessed the killing or know anything about it, except for the 9-1-1 caller who saw a black man "running from the scene.
"This is an ongoing investigation and no suspect(s) have been identified and no witnesses have been located that saw the actual shooting," Flynt added.
Police are withholding the dead man's name until they can contact his nearest relatives. The only information police provided to the media about the victim was that he was born in 1971. Police Chief Michael Chitwood, who often verbally feeds press releases to media outlets that are favorable to him was not quoted in any stories filed by other media outlets. He did not respond to an e-mail sent by Headline Surfer for comment.
This morning's murder is the fifth gunshot slaying since November and seventh homicide overall in that time span. A sixth man was purposely hit and run over by a motorist and the seventh was beaten to death -- his body dumped on the roof of the Peabody Auditorium. Only one of the seven murders has led to an arrest. Most of the murders are drug-related.