Miami man who claimed he accidentally shot out window of downtown DeLand business arrested
A Miami man accused of using a shotgun to shoot out the front window of a Pilates studio with six people inside in downtown DeLand on March 4 was arrested on Friday, authorities said.
Michael King, 35, was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail on Friday and charged with culpable negligence and shooting into a building. He was out of jail on $11,000 bail.
DeLand police said that at 7:05 p.m. on March 4, they were called to DeLand Pilates in the 100 block of North Woodland Boulevard where they found a window shot out. Six women were taking a Pilates class when the gunfire erupted, police stated.
The owner of DeLand Pilates reported getting hit in the face by shards of glass but was not injured. No other injuries were reported, police stated.
The owner and the six customers said they didn't know why someone would shoot up the business, police stated.
Witnesses described a white Jeep Wrangler parked on the opposite side of the street that left at a high rate of speed after the gunshot, a DeLand police charging affidavit stated.
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Suspect vehicle rented in Miami
A license plate reader captured the license plate of the Jeep Wrangler that showed it was rented from Enterprise Rent-a-Car in Miami, police said.
Police reviewed a recording from a nearby business that showed the Jeep Wrangler parked opposite the Pilates business. A man, later identified as King, got out of the passenger side of the Jeep and walked to the back of the vehicle. He opened the hatch and reached into the vehicle, and on the video police were able to hear the slide-racking of a firearm, a report states.
The camera stopped recording and did not capture the sound of gunfire, the report stated.
When the camera reactivated, the Jeep was seen leaving, police stated.
Police determined that the Jeep Wrangler had been rented in Miami by Shelby Rae Jones, also of Miami. Police would later learn that Jones was King's girlfriend, the charging affidavit stated.
On March 5, license plate readers in Miami Gardens identified the Jeep Wrangler and police conducted a felony stop a day later after locating the vehicle. Jones was driving it, the arrest report shows.
Jones, who was found with marijuana, asked for a lawyer and declined to speak with DeLand detectives, police said.
DeLand police were then notified on March 13 by an Orlando lawyer that Jones would talk to them, the report noted.
Shotgun accidentally fired
Jones told DeLand detectives that on March 3, she, her boyfriend King, and her sister, traveled from Miami in the rented Jeep to visit her grandfather in Summerfield, Florida. Then on March 4 they decided to go off-roading in the Ocala National Forest, and then decided to travel to DeLand to eat at a restaurant, the report detailed.
Jones said that after she parked, she heard the gunfire and King running to the front of the Jeep telling her "go, go, go," police stated.
Jones asked King what happened and he said he was securing the shotgun when he accidentally fired it, the report noted.
King hired a lawyer and declined to speak to DeLand detectives but he did text his girlfriend, police stated.
In text messages to Jones, King sent news reports of the downtown DeLand shooting. King also told Jones he was putting the shotgun in storage in case police got a warrant, and told Jones to put her phone and iPad on vibrate in case police called her from outside her door, detectives said.
King also told Jones that he thought the detective working the case had more important things to do and that the case might go away, the report said.
"We're just a person of interest. On a stack of papers on someone's desk. I was watching those videos today and the lady that called you is like the main detective so I am almost sure she should have more important things to investigate," police said King wrote in a text message to Jones. "I hope all this gets dropped and goes away. I'll never let this (expletive) happen again. I swear to God."
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida man arrested for shooting out window of business
