March 22, 2008
Brandon Haught
Public Information Office

SHERIFF'S OFFICE INVESTIGATING DELTONA SHOOTING

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office is investigating a shooting that sent one man to the hospital with serious injuries early Saturday morning. An angry customer at a Deltona bar and restaurant got a gun from his vehicle in the parking lot, but was then confronted by the bar's owner who also had a gun. The bar owner told the customer to drop his weapon, but the man refused and instead pointed his gun at the bar owner, which prompted the bar owner to shoot him. The incident was reported to the Sheriff's Office and the shooting victim was airlifted by a Sheriff's Office helicopter to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, where the man is in stable condition after undergoing surgery.

The incident was reported to the Sheriff's Office at approximately 1:44 a.m. Deputies responded to Gwen's West Indian Bar and Restaurant at 1355 Doyle Road and found the victim, Cesar Vallejos, on the ground in the parking lot with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Witnesses reported that earlier the 36-year-old man had complained that a woman had stolen his wallet. He went to his vehicle in the parking lot and retrieved a handgun. While still in the parking lot, the Orange City man argued with the accused woman and he then fired the weapon at the ground, apparently with the intent of scaring her. The bar owner, Ezequiel Rivera, confronted Vallejos in the parking lot, repeatedly telling him to drop the gun. Vallejos refused, and pointed the gun at Rivera instead. Rivera, a 34-year-old from Port Orange, then produced a gun he had on him and shot Vallejos once in the stomach.

Both men had valid concealed weapons permits. The investigation is ongoing with possible charges pending at its conclusion.