April 3, 2008
Brandon Haught
Public Information Office

SHERIFF’S OFFICE ARRESTS SUSPECT IN SHOOTING NEAR DELAND

Volusia County Sheriff’s investigators didn’t even have to go looking for their prime suspect in an overnight shooting near DeLand that left a victim hospitalized with a collapsed lung. Investigators arrested 27-year-old Joseph Turner Thursday morning after he showed up at the Sheriff’s Office to ask why his car had been towed from the crime scene. Turner is facing charges of aggravated battery and aggravated assault in the shooting. The defendant said he came to the scene to fight someone else and didn’t mean to hurt the victim who was struck by the bullet. 

Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched late Wednesday night to Lingering Lane just north of DeLand after receiving a call about a fight at 10:20 p.m. Minutes later, another witness called to say that shots had been fired. When deputies arrived, they found 20-year-old Jacob Sanchez of Pierson bleeding from a gunshot wound through his shoulder. He was transported by Sheriff’s Office helicopter to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach with a collapsed lung. Witnesses at the scene identified Turner as the shooter, saying he fired into a crowd after fighting with another man. The man who fought with Turner said the defendant started an argument with him because he was talking to a woman. Turner retreated from the fight, but returned moments later with a gun and fired towards the other man and an assembled crowd, striking Sanchez in the shoulder. Witnesses said Turner then walked up to the wounded victim, kicked him while he was on the ground and then fled the scene. Investigators impounded two vehicles as evidence in the case, including Turner’s. 

During questioning from investigators, Turner initially denied even being at the scene. But after investigators arrested him, Turner changed his story and claimed that he came to Lingering Lane to fight with another man but was jumped by about 10 people. Turner said he broke free and was handed a gun by someone else and that he only fired it in the air and the ground to scare his attackers and didn’t intend to hurt Sanchez. Turner, who lives in DeLand, was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach at 2:42 p.m. Thursday afternoon and was being held on $30,000 bond.