DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – What started out as a report of a shooting evolved into a homicide investigation Tuesday afternoon, according to the Daytona Beach Police Department.
The fatal shooting was reported before 4 p.m. at Weaver Street and Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard.
Daytona Beach Police Chief Craig Capri said two people were in a vehicle that was being chased by another vehicle. When the victims crashed, they tried to hide for safety but the three occupants of a light gray BMW got out of their vehicle and shot at them, possibly with a semi-automatic weapon, authorities said.
One victim was fatally shot, the other was not injured, according to police.
Capri said there were several witnesses to the shooting.
"I feel confident that there's a connection between the victim and the suspects and we'll hopefully be able to find out who the suspects are and bring them to justice and get closure for the family and for our victim that passed away," Capri said.
This shooting marked the third in Daytona Beach in about 24 hours. A fourth shooting was reported around the same time at a Taco Bell on Nova Road where a woman was shot in the foot, Capri said.
An extra dozen officers were patrolling on Tuesday in hopes of curbing crime in the area.
"I can tell you this, we have a zero tolerance for gun violence. You come here, you bring guns and want to commit crimes -- we're gonna hunt you down, we're gonna run you out of here and we're gonna use everything at our disposal to stop this. We don't need innocent people out here becoming victims of crimes because people want to shoot guns out here," Capri said.