May 9, 2006
Brandon Haught
Public Information Office

TEEN WANTED IN APRIL ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING 

The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s help in finding a teenager wanted on charges of hindering a recent shooting investigation. While the April 26 shooting appears to have been accidental, Sheriff’s investigators are charging the 17-year-old for hiding the gun while fleeing the scene and then lying to investigators. The shooting happened on Roanoke Avenue near DeLand. Roberto Cintron Jr. was sitting in the back seat of a car when a gun he was holding fired, sending a bullet through the front seat and striking the driver, Dustin Sanders, in the back. Sanders was treated for his injury at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach and later released. Cintron’s actions during and immediately after the shooting, revealed through witness interviews, prompted the filing of two charges against him.

 

Sanders, Cintron and two others were in a car driving along Roanoke Avenue at approximately 12:27 p.m. when the shooting happened. Sanders went to a nearby home for help while witnesses saw Cintron run away. Initially, Cintron left the gun beside a house. But then he returned a short time later to retrieve it, according to a witness. When interviewed by Volusia County Sheriff’s Office investigators, the teen claimed to have left the weapon in the car; however, he confided to another person to have thrown it into an unknown wooded area.

 

An “Order To Take Into Custody” was issued Monday by Circuit Court Judge Hubert Grimes for the felony charge of tampering with physical evidence. Additionally, the Sheriff’s Office has filed another charge with the State Attorney’s Office for culpable negligence. Cintron is a white male, 5’11” tall and weighs about 180 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes. His home address is 527 W. Beresford Ave., DeLand.

 

Anyone with information about Cintron’s whereabouts is asked to contact Sheriff’s investigator James Mathis at (386) 943-7866 or Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida, toll-free at 1-888-277-TIPS. Callers to Crime Stoppers will remain anonymous and can qualify for a reward of up to $1,000.