BUNNELL, Fla. – A man arrested Friday in Putnam County is accused of shooting a 19-year-old man last week in Bunnell, leaving the victim with life-threatening injuries, according to police.
Antarius Henderson, 23, faces a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, the Bunnell Police Department said in a news release.
The shooting occurred late March 16 in a neighborhood that detectives said was known as “South Bunnell,” where the city had since upgraded a network of pole cameras as part of a $300,000 investment following two drive-by shootings in 2022 out of the same area. This equipment, as well as other cameras owned by the Flagler County Housing Authority, captured the events of the shooting and even helped investigators track down a Mercedes-Benz that left the scene, proving to be significant investigative tools, police said.
“Technology makes the difference time and again, and this is one more example. I applaud our mayor and commissioners for their resolve to fund these video cameras to help our police department to both deter and solve violent crime. These cameras made an otherwise difficult case solvable,” Bunnell police Chief David Brannon said in a statement.
On video, three shooters could be seen firing at different moments, according to the release. A second arrest was made Monday when detectives identified a 17-year-old involved in the shooting and obtained an arrest warrant.
The Palm Coast teen was arrested on charges of carrying a concealed firearm and discharging a firearm. News 6 is not naming the 17-year-old due to his age.
What began as a small gathering of men at the intersection of East Drain Street and Hymon Circle soon turned into a fist fight between two men, police said. The purported loser in the fight — who detectives identified as Henderson — walked over to the Mercedes-Benz, turned around and began firing a handgun, the release states. The victim and other bystanders then started to run away, police said.
The victim was about 20 feet away across the intersection when he was shot twice — once in the left side of his chest and once above his right hip — as he went on to run toward a home in the 500 block of East Drain Street, ring the doorbell and plead for help, according to the release. The occupants of the home helped the victim and called 911, police said.
The victim was not said to be the other man who Henderson had been fighting, however. An initial bystander put about 100 feet between himself and Henderson once the shooting started, pulling his own handgun and firing back at him, police said. The second shooter would soon hand his gun to a third person — the one Henderson had been fighting, police said — who ran toward Henderson, fired several shots and ran away, the release states.
The Mercedes-Benz was located at a home in the “R” section of Palm Coast after license plate readers — attached to the same poles as the cameras — captured the vehicle’s tag, yet it was only after an investigation so far totaling seven search warrants and at least 15 interviews that the police department was able to procure a warrant for Henderson’s arrest, according to the release.
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Investigators said the fist fight likely stemmed from a melee in the same neighborhood two weeks prior in which Henderson was among six people arrested, accused of disorderly conduct and resisting an officer without violence.
The victim was airlifted to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said. Since then and after several surgeries, one of his kidneys has had to be removed, the release states.
Detectives working with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office’s PACE Unit, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office and the Palatka Police Department located Henderson’s vehicle Friday evening in the Palatka area. Henderson was found at the River Crest Motel along Highway 17, where he and a person unrelated to the case were detained, the release states.
Henderson was booked at the Putnam County jail, records show.
Additional charges are pending and other elements of the case remain under active investigation, according to Bunnell police.
Anyone with information related to the case is encouraged to contact detectives at 386-600-7950 or Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida at 888-277-8477 to remain anonymous.
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