THREE IN CUSTODY FOLLOWING CARJACKING IN DELTONA
DELTONA -- The Volusia County Sheriff's Office has three people in custody after 38-year-old Moliek Hudson was carjacked Monday afternoon at gunpoint in Deltona with his 3-year-old son inside his van, agency spokesman Gary Davidson said.
The suspects put the toddler out of the vehicle at Florida Drive in the southwest corner of Deltona before taking off with Hudson's van and wallet. However, the culprits -- two males and a female -- didn't get very far, Davidson said.
Deputies quickly converged on the scene after receiving a 911 call about the carjacking at 1:47 p.m. Four minutes later, Sheriff's deputy Charles Hillyard spotted the victim's gold Astro van heading southbound on Howland Boulevard approximately two miles from the scene of the carjacking.
The fleeing suspects picked up State Road 415 and took it south into Seminole County, with two patrol deputies, a K-9 unit and a Sheriff's helicopter following along. Once the suspects crossed the bridge into Seminole County at 1:59 p.m., Sanford Police and the Seminole County Sheriff's Office joined in to assist. The suspects eventually bailed out of the vehicle in an industrial park off of State Road 46 and were all captured within 10 minutes.
The toddler was checked out by paramedics as a precaution, but wasn't injured.
The incident started at approximately 1:47 p.m. when the victim, met with the suspects at an apartment complex near the intersection of Florida Drive and Alatka Lane in Deltona. Hudson told deputies that he had responded to a phone call from someone asking to meet with him to look at some shoes that he sells out of his van.
When Hudson arrived at the meeting location and got out of his van, Lamir Gray, 18, pointed a handgun at him, Davidson said. The defendants ordered Hudson to leave his wallet and cell phone in the car. Hudson told deputies that when he complied, 14-year-old Darquise Toliver told Gray
to shoot Hudson, Davidson said. Hudson then ran across the street to a patch of woods and he told deputies that he had heard a shot being fired.
The defendants got into the vehicle and found Hudson's 3-year-old son in a car seat inside. They unbuckled the car seat and set the boy, still in the car seat, outside the van. Miller then drove the van away. Hudson recovered his son and flagged down a passerby to use the person's cell phone.
A construction worker later reported finding the handgun believed to be used during the carjacking alongside the road near the intersection of Howland Boulevard and S.R. 415. Additionally, a bystander called the Sheriff's Office to report that his vehicle had been clipped by the fleeing van.
Arrested in the carjacking were:
* Haneefah Miller, 30, Deltona, carjacking with a firearm, kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest without
violence, leaving the scene of an accident with property damage, and fleeing and eluding.
* Lamir Gray, 18, Deltona, carjacking with a firearm, kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and resisting arrest without
violence.
* Darquise Toliver, 14, Sanford, carjacking with a firearm, kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest without
violence.
The adult defendants were transported to the Seminole County jail, while the 14-year-old was taken to the Seminole County juvenile detention facility.