Sheriff Grady Judd

This case has been solved.

Polk County Sheriff's Homicide detectives are investigating a second, unrelated fatal shooting within 24 hours related to illegal marijuana sales.

Preliminary information so far is as follows:

Around 1:40 p.m. on Wednesday, July 15, 2020, the PCSO Emergency Communications Center (ECC) received two different 911 calls about a shooting that occurred in the parking lot of the Days Inn motel located at 43700 US Hwy 27 in Davenport. When first responders arrived, they found the 22-year-old black male victim from Haines City with a gunshot wound to the chest, laying on the ground. He was transported to the Heart of Florida Hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.

"Some people still think that marijuana is a low-level, non-violent' drug. I call marijuana a violent drug - this is the second person shot and killed in two days in this county while involved in an illegal drug transaction. We need to solve this homicide before someone else is murdered." - Grady Judd, Sheriff

Detectives learned from the witness and evidence at the scene that the victim was renting a room at the motel, from where he was selling marijuana. The witness told detectives that the victim had a "bad feeling" he was going to be robbed during the transaction. The witness watched the transaction from the safety of a motel room and observed the victim talking to the driver of an older model white Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck. The witness then saw the driver, described as a black male, shoot the victim and drive away. The truck was last seen heading south on US Hwy 27 towards Haines City. Another witness working nearby on a construction site also saw the shooting and the suspect vehicle. A partial tag number was obtained.

Detectives ran several variations of the partial tag number into law enforcement databases, and came up with a possible registered owner living in Lake Hamilton. They responded to a Lake Hamilton address, where a white Chevy Silverado truck is parked. Detectives confirmed that this is the truck that transported the murderers to the scene. The investigation is ongoing.