EDGEWATER, Fla. – Two people were arrested after one person was killed and two others were injured Thursday night in a shooting in a wooded area of Edgewater, police said.
The shooting took place around 9:30 p.m. near the 1500 block of Juniper Drive, near 15th Street.
Edgewater police said officers were called to the area and found the victims in the woods at a “make-shift transient camp.”
One of the victims, identified as 39-year-old John G. Ellis, was pronounced dead at the scene. The other two were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Crime scene investigators with Edgewater Police are working a shooting on Juniper Drive.
— Ezzy Castro (@EzzyCastro) October 6, 2023
We’re told 3 people were found shot in the woods. One of them was pronounced dead at the scene.
We are live at 5:30 a.m. @news6wkmg pic.twitter.com/RaZWUELwkA
Around 7:19 p.m. on Friday, police announced they had made two arrests in the shooting: Walter Russell, 45, and his fiancée, Laura Carter, 42. Both hail from New Smyrna Beach, police added.
A neighbor said she was getting ready for work when the victims asked her for help.
“When I seen the mess they were in, it shook me up,” said Carol Mehalko, who added that she gave one of the victims a towel to help stop the bleeding.
When asked if she was concerned that the shooting happened close to where she lives, Mehalko replied, “It happens everywhere nowadays, doesn’t it?”
The department said the shooting was not random. However, no information has been provided at this time about what the motive might have been.
Russell faces a count of first-degree murder and other felony charges. Meanwhile, Carter faces a count of principal to first-degree murder.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Edgewater police at 386-424-2000.
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