DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Daytona Beach police on Sunday announced an arrest was made in connection to a possible road rage shooting Saturday night that left a man dead.
Ricardo Gibbs, 35, originally faced charges of attempted murder with a firearm and aggravated battery with a firearm in his alleged role at the scene, from where police said he called dispatchers after shooting the victim in the torso. Following the victim’s death on Sunday, police said the charges against Gibbs were increased to first-degree murder.
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The Daytona Beach Police Department said officers responded around 7 p.m., reaching the 900 block of Vine Street to locate the injured man slipping in and out of consciousness. The victim’s condition made it so he was unable to be interviewed and police said he was taken to the hospital in critical condition, where medical personnel advised he was not expected to survive.
According to a charging affidavit, Gibbs allegedly offered police a different timeline of events than what was later discovered through witness statements and on area surveillance footage.
Starting at the intersection of Vine Street and Brentwood Drive, Gibbs told officers that he was cut off by the victim — a motorcyclist identified by police as Tomas Lee Bouknight, 25 — while attempting to turn left from eastbound Brentwood to northbound Vine. Gibbs stated he waited a few more moments before completing his left turn, soon after finding Bouknight standing in a southbound lane of Vine Street as if he was waiting for him.
Gibbs said Bouknight was yelling at him and waving his hands. According to the affidavit, Gibbs claimed Bouknight then lifted his shirt to expose a handgun tucked into his pants, at which point Gibbs said he started hearing gunshots while reaching down for his own firearm, punching out his window and firing at the victim. Gibbs then said that after firing at least one shot at Bouknight, he pulled into a church parking lot and called 911.
That story did not line up with what police said they learned while reviewing the footage and conducting interviews with witnesses.
According to police, Gibbs was recorded speeding past Bouknight after making the left turn onto Vine Street, coming to a stop in the roadway before the victim could be observed falling off of their motorcycle. It did not appear as though Bouknight produced a firearm before this, police said.
A witness who was driving southbound on Vine Street at the time told police they saw both men engaged in a verbal dispute before Gibbs began to shoot at Bouknight. It was then, the witness said, that Bouknight armed himself and began to return fire. Gibbs then allegedly pulled forward a few more feet before exiting his vehicle and shooting at the victim over the hood, police said. After Bouknight fell to the ground, Gibbs drove off and pulled into the church parking lot before leaving to proceed eastbound on 3rd Street, according to the affidavit.
Following that interview, a detective asked Gibbs to repeat his version of the story, to which he allegedly maintained that Bouknight was stopped in the road waiting for him after he made the left turn. Once the detective informed Gibbs that video footage showed him passing Bouknight while his motorcycle was still in motion, he reportedly had nothing to say about it. Gibbs said he could not remember if he stopped and exited his vehicle, either.
Gibbs was booked at the Volusia County jail early Sunday on $75,000 bond. The later upgrade to first-degree murder comes with no bond, booking records show.
The department posted body-worn camera video of officers’ response to the shooting on Facebook. See it in the video player below:
See our previous coverage of this story in the video player below:
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